The tale of you and I
by Red Crescent
Summary: It is said, every once a thousand years the earth stops turning for only one purpose: opening the portal to another dimension. But only one girl will be able to travel though it, as for she is the heroine of this very legend...As if, Chichi said! As if?
1. Note

Note

Hey there, Red Crescent again with a new story! I just currently came up with this idea, and honestly, I didn't want to stay it online until I finished this one…but then again: I thought "What if you won't like it? What if I write it and nobody tells me how they think it is?"

Well then, so I will show you what I wrote. And I have one favor to ask of you.

Because "The tale of you and I" is so entirely different to what I write normally, I need your opinion. I really do!

I hope I won't have to change the rating T…I think it should stay as it is…Rating M wouldn't be…oh, well. Read it, you will see what I mean!^^

Furthermore, I have to make some introductions:

Here, there are going to be three ways to read the direct speech.

Firstly, the normal one when Chichi's talking in her own language. That will be in normal "…"-way

Secondly. When Goku is talking and Chichi doesn't understand him, you will have to find out how to understand him yourself!^^ (Little help: he will often say "Sey"…guess what it means and the rest is not that difficult to understand, believe me)

Third. When Goku speaks and WE want to understand him it is written in **"The fat"** -way

Alright? More questions? No? Then enjoy this one! I hope you will think it's as great as I think it can be!

Yours,

Red C


	2. Prologue The tale of the legendary girl

The tale of you and I

**Prologue – The tale of the legendary heroine**

"_It is said, every once a thousand years the earth stops turning for only one purpose: opening the portal to another dimension. But only one girl will be able to travel though it, as for she is the heroine of this very legend. Once she traveled though, she has to fulfill her destiny. A destiny that might include death, love, sadness, hatred, friendship and joy. Once she achieved victory in her doing, the earth starts to turn again and the girl is allowed to go back."_

Seventeen-year-old Chichi closed her history book with a loud Twap! Sighing she shook her head in disbelief. The earth stops turning and a portal opens? The Chinese history with all its tales and legends sure was interesting, but come on! A portal that opens for one person only?

This guy who wrote that surely was even weirder than Chichi's best friend, who assured her like a maniac, her dreams were visions.

Why did she befriend with Eleona when they were children? Ah yes, because she was nice and Chichi just loved her for who she was…Friendship surely had its obstacles!

As if to match her thoughts, her phone started ringing and a very nervous Eleona screamed into her ear: "Chi! Did you read the tale already we had to do as our homework for history class?"

"Yeah, I did. But why –?"

"Oh my god! You won't believe it but only yesterday night I dreamed of the same exact thing!" she huffed breathlessly.

Chichi sighed. _There she goes again_, she thought. "Eleona, calm down! Maybe you've read that story already a while ago and were dreaming something because of that –"

"No! Because…because…" Eleona staggered with words.

"Out with it already!" Chichi's temper rose. She was well known for her temperament and nobody wanted to challenge her but sometimes her best friend just liked to challenge it, it seemed!

"…because you were the one that went missing." Eleona gasped out and it went silent between them. Until Chichi started to laugh out loud.

"Oh…that's the best so far!" She said between catching her breath. "You want to tell me, I'm the girl of legend that travels between two dimensions?"

"Yes." Eleona's voice sounded too hard for her. She really believed what she said, didn't she?

"Eleona…" Chichi whipped away a tear, "I really love you, I do. But sometimes you're so crazy I don't know if I want to hug or to strangle you."

"But Chi, believe me!" Her best friend cried but Chichi didn't hear her.

"Try again tomorrow, but not today. I'm not in the mood to believe tales right now, sorry. I've to hang up now; my dad wants to go shopping with me in the city. You know, for his birthday party. You're invited by the way."

"Ah..." Eleona commented dissatisfied but didn't say anything anymore. Chichi almost had pity for her.

"Cheer up!" She smiled into the phone. "I'll see you tomorrow in school, alright?"

"Ah…" Now that didn't work as Chichi wished it would but she had no time anymore, she had to go.

"Bye, sweety!" And the connection between them was cut short.

Chichi shook her head again. _Oh Eleona!_, she thought. _What am I going to do with you? _It wasn't easy for her to listen to her best friend all the time. Dreams here, dreams there, dreams everywhere! And Eleona just believed so strongly in her visions – not that they actually were visions – that she just couldn't let go! She would push and push it until Chichi would finally say: "I believe you!"

But this time it was too hard to believe it. Too ridiculous. Maybe even too funny! How should she disappear from this world? Fall through a hole? Stumble into a lake and be transported to another world? Sure! Sounded as if it was out of a rather boring novel! Furthermore, Chichi didn't get why it had to be her anyway. She was just a normal seventeen-year old girl. No special powers except her temper.

She hoped Eleona would stay quiet tomorrow morning, Chichi had a feeling she wouldn't feel good …

But it was somehow typical that nothing happened how Chichi wished for it to happen: The very next morning Eleona just started where she left off yesterday. "Look here!" she said and a couple of books – very thick ones – landed on Chichi's table. "I read though them and found some more legends and tales with the exact same content! Furthermore I found out that lately meteorologists said there was a weird occasion happening to the earth rotation!"

Chichi groaned. Her head was hurting since she woke up. "Ela" she nicknamed her friend, "I really don't want to talk about that right now…"

"Fine!" Eleona snapped. "But read them through, maybe then you will believe me!" With that she sat down on her own table at the very front of the class room – while Chichi's was at the back – and ignored her for the rest of the day. Chichi murmured some curses to herself the whole time. A rather meaningless fight between her and Ela just because of a stupid, stupid tale? Great, just great!

And history class was at fault! _Damn you, Mister Takagi, damn you…_, she repeated in her mind like a bad mantra.

She needed a strong coffee after this she decided shortly while her math teacher entered their classroom. But Chichi hadn't any concentration for him, she just thought about what to do with Ela and this whole mess. This weird mess, because of a weird tale that couldn't be beaten in all its weirdness! If there really were two dimensions, why connect two worlds anyway? Didn't they have a heroine themselves?

_Must be a couple of dumb people over there…_, Chichi murmured in her head as she packed her stuff in her bag and watched how Eleona left the room without her after eight hours of school. Sighing, Chichi decided to go home…this was not her day today…Her best friend ignored her and she needed some caffeine!

With the additional weight of the books, Chichi went to her favorite coffee-shop which lay just on her way, luckily. Peter - the owner of said shop – smiled at her his genuine smile when she entered the small building. "Small, black and with one drop of sugar?" He asked her.

She just smiled exhausted back at him. "_Big_, black and with one drop of sugar, please." She ordered and searched in her pocket for some coins. Her friends always teased her for having so much metallic money in her pants like an old man, but Chichi didn't care. It was convenient, so why should she not do it?

When she finally managed to grab her money and took it out of her pocket, one coin landed directly beside her on the ground. Quite feeling stressed she breathed out and reached with her hand for it. This really wasn't her day, today, it seemed. Absolutely not.

When she was about to take it, a black fuzzy something went nimbly past her and took the coin instead. With big green eyes a cat looked at Chichi, the money between her teeth. "Simon, give it back!" she asked the cat's owner but Simon only inclined his little neck, turned around and with fast little paws went through the suddenly opened door and vanished behind the next corner. Could this day get any worse?

"I'll be right back!" she shouted to Peter who looked at her puzzlingly while she tried to catch up with the little purring thief.

_This damn little thing!_, she thought all the way she looked for the cat and went from one place to another through the people who watched her as if she was crazy. Well, maybe she was looking like that, running through the streets, body bent over and screaming: "Simon! Simon, you little rascal!" all the time.

When she reached a dead end – no sign of the cat or the coin whatsoever – she was feeling so desperate, she just wanted to cover her form with her bed sheet and never come out again!

Where was a hero when she needed one? Oh right, that only happened in fairytales! God, she wanted to burn every tale in universe at this very moment…

Chichi turned around with her head dropped down, still feeling furious. A cat that stole her money. Sounded like a story you could write down in a comic book…Sighing she touched her forehead and shook her head. Getting angry didn't solve anything, she had to stay calm, she told herself…Stay calm, and everything will turn back to normal…

While she lazily scanned the area again, she suddenly saw a small wooden door in the stone wall right beside her. "There was a door?" she whispered to herself and kneeled before it. A feeling of little hope went through her: Maybe Simon went through it?

Her hope fell: Or maybe it was just a wooden door without a function? She analyzed it for a while before she just shrugged her shoulders. "A look won't hurt…" She assured herself and reached for the door handle. It was not as if it was something permitted, she just wanted to make sure, Simon wasn't behind there….stuck between something…Yes, she only wanted to make sure.

It clicked, the door swung silently to the side and Chichi crawled a little into the dark opening. "Can't see…" she murmured and crawled in some more until her whole upper body vanished behind the doorframe. She couldn't see or hear anything.

So it really was only a door without a function at all. Still, it was an odd place for such a small door…She tried to crawl out again, but couldn't. It seemed as if she was the one stuck now!

_Great! Just great!_, she snorted to herself. _What the hell is happening today? Is it my No-luck-day? Or my Worst-case-scenario-day? Or my Time-for-some-misfortune-day? Whatever it is, I don't think it's funny!_

And then, suddenly, someone pushed her inside and a scream pierced her ear – she didn't realize it was her own. And while she stumbled into the shuddering darkness, the door behind her closed with a quiet rattle…

_Oh great!_ She cursed while she pushed herself up on her hands and knees again, looking around only to find out she was just as blind as seconds before. Who the hell had pushed her? Turning around on her hands and knees – there really wasn't much room – she searched for the door again. But the only thing her hands were touching was stone. Stone, stone, stone!

Slowly, panic crept though her mind and hysterically she whimpered for help. Crawling around like a madman – or a madwoman - she searched for a way out. Tears were running down her face by now but she didn't notice it. She just wanted to find a damn way out!

And then, suddenly she stumbled over a hole and just fell right through it. She didn't have to do much, she just fell.

And fell.

And while she fell, she finally lost her nerves and went unconscious with her last thought: _I hate tales…_


	3. One The tale of the weird monkey boy

**One – The tale of the weird monkey-boy**

Sunlight crashed on her closed eyes and she hummed incoherently, while she covered her face with her arm and turned to the side. "Only five more minutes…" she murmured with a low voice as she heard birds sing around her and reached with her other hand for her alarm clock. Unfortunately for her, the only thing she touched was something that felt like grass. She frowned. Weird, she didn't remember buying a clock that felt like grass…

She didn't even remember having an alarm that sounded like birds…

Nor did she remember having a bed that had little stones on it…

Only when something was tickling her nose, she opened her eyes wide and sat up with a rather shocked expression. She didn't get what she saw. To be specific, she saw what she saw, but she didn't want to believe that this what she saw was actually what she saw…No, this couldn't have been true, she said to herself. There was no way her garden was this big!

Nor had her garden trees that high! Nor had the grass in her garden the color of ink. _Black grass? Alright, who will wake me from this nightmare? _

Standing up on wobbling feet, she looked around the high trees and whispered for her father. Quietly. Turning around she tried again, louder this time. "D-Dad?"

No reaction.

" Daddy? Eleona!"

Still no answer.

"Are you there? Hello? Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?"

But the only sound that welcomed her was the low and high singing of the birds. Touching the trees and turn from one corner to the other she looked if there would be anybody near! The black ground beneath her feet made it hard for her to actually see anything clear. Her surrounding seemed darker, just black. But she tried anyway and walked on, her hand clutching the spot over her heart.

Her bangs were sticking to her now sweaty face and she cursed herself for not cutting her long hair! After some minutes she felt something wasn't right. Maybe because she didn't see anything except trees? Or maybe because the birds stopped singing?

Or was it rather because of this dragon-like thing in front of her that looked at her hungrily with red eyes?

Chichi couldn't really tell what the reason for her uneasiness was….But she knew for sure she should run for her life. What she did! Until she stumbled over her own feet and wished she would just wake up from this nightmare already! A loud growl left the sloppy mouth of the dragon before Chichi covered her head with her arms in protection, her last attempt to not be eaten this instant. A rather lousy attempt…

But nothing came. Absolutely nothing came. No pain, no bad monster-breath, nothing. Only a male voice she couldn't understand spoke to her. Gently. Ever so softly and as tender as it could be.

And Chichi looked up with teary eyes. Her whole body shaking while she looked into the first face she found in this strange place. And while she looked into his eyes, she burst out in hysterical shrieking and clasped her hands behind his back while she pressed her little nose into this man's chest, who didn't do anything and just stared down at her with an unreadable look in his black eyes.

Chichi was so relieved to have found someone that she didn't register her doing. Only when she heard his heart beat, she slowly calmed down and was able to form logical thoughts again. His hands landed on her shoulders and he pushed her from his chest until she was looking up and directly into his eyes.

Her cheeks burned a crimson red.

"I'm so sorry for suddenly hugging you!" She exclaimed in an exciting voice. "But I was just so scared…and I was all alone…and I just don't know this place…and I…"

"Gniyas era ouy tahw dantsredun t'nod I…" he said with his low voice and Chichi frowned at him.

"What?"

But he wasn't allowed to say it again as another growl took him back to the situation they were in. The dragon he kicked – unbelievable, he just kicked him! – was coming back for another round, it seemed. The boy – or was he a man? Chichi couldn't tell at the moment – grabbed her arm and said "Em htiw emoc!"

And before she could even answer him he swung her around his shoulder and jumped off with fast feet. Chichi's face lost all her color. She wasn't shocked that he threw her over his shoulder like a bag full of potatoes; she wasn't even that shocked that he was running so fast, she couldn't see his feet anymore – she was shocked to her core that there was something coming out of his butt. And this something looked like a tail. And it didn't look like any tail; it looked like a monkey-tail.

She was kidnapped by a boy-slash-man-slash-hybrid with a monkey-tail.

_God, what did I do to deserve this…?_

His arm squeezed her upper legs and Chichi's head became dizzy. Just some more inches and he would touch her bosom! A snarling scream took her attention back to the thing that raced after them. Damn it, this monster was fast! The monkey-boy felt it too, as he was turning his head slightly, made a cursing sound and speed up some more.

Chichi had the urge to throw up; this was too much for her to handle. But she held her vomit in, she wouldn't be weak, she told herself... His grip on her got harder as he suddenly jumped up high and landed in a dark ground-hole, where he pressed Chichi nearer to him while he ducked and looked up to the dragon monster that looked as if it couldn't say where to turn next. Until it slowly disappeared.

The monkey boy sighed and let go of Chichi, who just slumped down against him, her hands and legs shaking. He patted her back and stood up. But Chichi gripped his shirt and held him in place. He looked at her, frowned and loosened her grip on him before he walked away in the darkness.

Distressed she looked after him. "Wait!" She yelled and tried to stand up, but her legs weren't strong enough, so she just sat there. "Wait!" She demanded again, tears leaking out of her eyes.

"Don't just leave me here…" she whimpered. "Listen to me! Don't leave me here in the dark!" But no answer came to her ear. And for the first time in her life, she just let the tears flow down mercilessly. Not even when her mother died she had cried so much, as she told herself she had to stay strong for her father's sake. But now she couldn't help herself, and so she cried dirtily into the unknown blackness.

Until the monkey boy suddenly sat down beside her with his arms crossed. "Dik emoselbuort a era yllaer uoy…" He whispered and ruffled her head. She choked and looked at him. But while he continued to pat her head she started to calm down. Was he comforting her? Maybe he was…

"Thank you…" Chichi whispered to him after what felt like half an hour. His hand still lay on her head and he smiled down at her. "Gniog teg s'tel, llew!" He smiled at her and stood finally up, bringing her with her, steadying her on her feet. "Em wollof tsuj, tuo yaw a wonk I!" He grinned at Chichi, took her hand in his and led the way. Chichi didn't know what to do; she was just relieved that there was someone who helped her.

Not that it mattered who it was, since this was a dream anyway but still…it felt nice.

And while they wandered through the darkness, him going forward as if he knew this cave like his own self, Chichi started to babble in excitement: "You know, thank you again for rescuing me. I mean, I did self-defense training for some time, but I never really had to use it, so…well, thank you. Oh and, I don't know how I got here at all, so…it would be nice if you would bring me home? I mean…Did you see a small wooden door anywhere? Or do you know how to wake me up? Or…how about I tell you what my name is first? Since you helped me and all…it would be proper. So…my name is Chichi. Chiiichiii." She slowly said and pointed with one finger to herself. "What is your name?" she asked him and pointed her finger at him.

He stopped, smiled a little and scratched his head with his free hand – as the other still held Chichi's in a tight grip. "Gniyas are ouy gnihtyna dnatsrednu t'nod I dna, tol a klat erus uoy. Chichi, eman ym em gnikas htiw etilop ytterp are uoy tub. Son-Goku si eman ym. Goku ylno em llac yam uoy tub."

"Goku?" Chichi wanted to make sure she understood him perfectly. "Your name is Goku?"

"Sey." He answered, smiled again a little boyishly and started to walk and Chichi remained silently. She knew, she only talked because it was awfully quiet between them two, but he didn't understand her, as she didn't understand him. So she stayed still.

Until they got out of this cave…Sunlight blinded Chichi as they stepped out of the small rocky hollow and she had to cover her eyes a little. Goku let go of her hand as soon as they were out of the darkness. Below them was the most beautiful view Chichi had ever seen in her own world. "This is amazing!" She whispered as she took three steps forward until she stood directly before the little cliff. Wind pitched threw her messy black locks as she looked at the scenery.

"Og s'tel." Goku suddenly said behind her and she just nodded at him and followed him with small steps.

But only a few minutes later they heard fighting noise. Chichi gulped: It didn't matter how beautiful this world was, but there were people fighting in the middle of the road, with swords and weird looking weapons! So…when was the time she would finally wake up? Would she wake up at all? And why was Goku gone now? Was he…? Yes, he was…With three steps he stood between the seven men and knocked one after another out.

This guy was crazy! Strong, a half monkey, and crazy! Chichi's face got pale and she automatically backed away from this scene until a dirty and big hand covered her mouth and another griped her uncomfortably around her waist pressing her against a fatty body. "Ereh gniht ecin…" An unfamiliar voice murmured. Chichi managed a muffled sound. What the hell was happening now?

"Og reh tel!" Goku yelled at the fat man who chuckled darkly and pressed a cold blade against Chichi's throat. "I dluohs yhw? Reh ekil I…"

Goku growled dangerously and Chichi didn't know what seemed more frightening: The blade or Goku's facial expression. "Og reh tel, dias I." Goku warned again and Chichi wished she would understand what they were talking about! When suddenly a slimy tongue slid over her left cheek she wiggled and screamed in disgust and Goku saw red.

Disappearing right before her very eyes he appeared somewhere she couldn't see anymore. A sound near her ear followed and the grip around her loosened until the fat robber landed knocked out near her feet. Her feet gave out and she slumped to her knees, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Gripping her arm forcefully, he helped her up and looked her over, why her gaze still lay on the guy that held her seconds ago. He looked as if he was dead…But he wasn't, she recognized and breathed in.

"Thgirla uoy era?" Goku wanted to know and brushed away the saliva that still hung on her cheek. With big eyes she looked at him. "I don't understand what you are saying…" she murmured and looked into his worried eyes.

And then she got it, although she didn't want to believe it at first. She wouldn't wake up, as this wasn't a dream. She would have to find a way out, but she had no idea how this world worked, nor did she understand anything they were talking about. She had to learn it, she noticed sadly. She had to learn it and do whatever she could do until she found her way back.

She didn't say anything anymore while they walked wherever Goku was leading them to. Her hand found its way into the material of his shirt on his back all the while and her grip didn't loosen at all. She was scared and had to think about her knew situation. She wished Eleona would call her and tell her what she should do. _Oh Ela!_, she cried in her head. _Why didn't I believe you?_

Goku suddenly stopped and turned around to her while he looked at her clothes. She was in jeans – clothes he had never seen before – and a pinkish shirt with a light blue jacket over it. Her face was dirty as her black long hair stood into every direction – almost like his…

"Reaw ot gnihtemos uoy dinf ot evah ew…" he said while he cupped his chin in thought. "Ereh morf ton era uoy wonk lliw yeht ro."

Chichi looked down at herself as he analyzed her in thoughts. Was something wrong with her way of dressing? Was it not proper enough? Or did it look weird? Well…he was wearing something strange too…an overall, in a deep dark blue, with a red belt and black boots. A white shirt underneath…Chichi thought he looked way stranger than she did. And with his spiky hair and this tail of his! Yes, he looked way stranger than her, definitely.

Goku knew why this guy from before had his eyes on her. She looked like an amazon-woman…like something from a different world…well, she was from a different world, but he guessed she didn't know it. Yet. And maybe it would be for the best she never got to know it. She didn't look like the legendary girl everybody was talking about.

She looked small, weak. Almost too ordinary. And how old was she anyway? She couldn't have been older than seventeen – while he was already twenty-five. A seventeen-year old girl in such a dangerous situation….there was no way he could accomplish his mission with her. Absolutely no way.

"Goku?" she asked with a quiet voice and took him out of his thoughts. But he only smiled at her, shook his head as to signalize her nothing was wrong and they resumed their journey.

About an hour later they arrived at a small village. Goku told lead her behind a green high bush and gestured her to wait here for him. Chichi looked at him in confusion and her eyes searched his as he walked away from her. She looked as if she feared he would leave her alone. Goku smiled to himself: how could he? He was supposed to protect her…And when she was looking at him like that, he knew he just couldn't leave her alone, even if he wanted to.

Ten minutes later he got back, with clothes hanging over his arm. Clothes for her, obviously. Her face showed relieve when she spotted him again.

"Siht otni egnahc." Goku told her and gave her the clothes. She looked at him in confusion but took the clothes anyway. "Egnahc?" she repeated and looked at him. "Sey." He grinned at her and turned around so that she could do it without him looking at her.

Some moments later she came out again, finished with her knew clothing. It looked good on her, with the dress-like shirt in the same color as his own overall, the bluish pants underneath, the black boots and the dark-pink belt around her. Oh well, she had trouble to make a proper knot, but as he helped her, he noticed her cheeks change color.

Looked as if she was embarrassed, he smiled. "Sith ekil." He told her and showed the right way to knot the belt around her waist. "Sith ekil?" she repeated and looked from his hands to his face and back to his hands. He nodded at her direction once he was finished and stretched his hand out to her.

"What is it?" she wanted to know as she pressed her own clothes to her chest. He didn't want to have them, did he?

"Sehtolc." He demanded friendly and pointed to the things in her arms. _So he really wanted them…_, she sighed. "Sehtolc…", she whispered and showed him the bundle in her hands. "This?"

He smiled warmly at her. "Sey." Oh well…she had to do it…and it was her favorite jeans, too!

He shortly destroyed her clothes with only his hands and threw it into the little stream flowing nearby and looked at her sad expression. Ruffling her head with his big hand he nonverbal told her she shouldn't be sad. Smiling at him, she felt her heart beat quickly in her chest. She really was lucky to have found him, wasn't she? As if he was supposed to be in the black-grass-valley when she was supposed to simply land there.

Taking his big hand in her own little one she grinned at him and gave it a little squeeze. Confused he looked at her and hooked his eyebrow but didn't let go. She was a strange one…but somehow he couldn't hate her, not that he wanted to…but it would be impossible to hate her…what meant it would be even more difficult to leave her, when he had to…

"Goku?" she asked him as they were walking into the village together. "Where are we going now?" But he didn't give her an answer; he just continued to walk with her past a lot of people until they were standing in front of a big round house. It looked like a tavern…or a pub…Chichi couldn't tell. This house was round! It was round…so it could be anything.

Goku knocked slightly, the door opened and they entered it. It was dark inside, Chichi glued herself to Goku's arm and a raspy old voice welcomed them from a corner.

"Baba." Goku calmly said and an old witch on a glass-ball flew across the room directly before her.

"Goku…" She smiled at him and her face showed a lot of deep lines, framing her puffy face. "Reh that si?" The old woman asked and pointed to Chichi, who backed away and half hid herself behind Goku, whose tail protectively caressed her back. It didn't disgust her, it actually really calmed her down. Goodness he was there with her…Goodness…

"Sey." Goku answered and the old witch smiled a wide smile with several gaps between her teeth while she looked at Chichi.

"Dnegel fo lrig eht…" She wisely stated and Chichi got goose bumps. She understood that this woman named her. Named her in a knowing way. A way, Chichi didn't like.

"Emoc…" The witch Goku called Baba said to both of them before she flew off with her glass-ball. Chichi looked at Goku who only grinned at her and lead the way, like all the time before. And she just followed, as there was no other way anyway. She followed, and at the same time started to spin the wheel of her destiny…


	4. Two The tale of the old witch Baba

**Two – The tale of the old witch Baba**

The tea Chichi got to drink tasted terribly. Sticking out her tongue she set the cup back on the table while she made herself comfortable in the chair she was sitting in. Goku beside her, the witch Baba in front of her. Chichi felt as if she was a member of a circle…a witch circle, or something like this. The glass-ball was in the middle of them.

All of it seemed very mysteriously!

Goku looked seriously at the old woman while Baba concentrated on the ball before her. What was happening now? _Don't tell me she tries to read something out of this ball? Is she a seer?_, Chichi asked herself and watched how the old face wrinkled in concentration, while she formed weird forms into the air with her hands and arms. Chichi leaned over to Goku and was about to ask him what she was doing – although she knew he wouldn't understand her anyway. But all he did was bring his finger in front of his lips.

So Chichi held her mouth shut and waited. After a few minutes Baba breathed out exhaustedly. _So…that was it already?_ It obviously was, because the glass-ball flew on its own to a purple pillow, where it landed quietly and stayed. Baba directed her speech to Goku. And they started to talk and glanced here and then to Chichi, who didn't understand anything. It depressed her, somehow. She really wanted to learn their language as fast as possible.

"**You found her in the Black-valley?" **Baba asked Goku while Chichi analyzed her surroundings. She didn't understand anything they were saying anyway, so she needn't pay attention to them. Goku nodded. **"Yes, just like you saw it in your glass-ball. She fell from the sky, I saw it. She floated down slowly. And…she looked so helpless. Baba, this girl is only seventeen, I guess…how can she be the girl of legend?"**

"**Age doesn't matter in terms of prophecy. She could be any age. Five, twenty, sixty or…seventeen."**

"**But she seems so weak…"**

"**Well, therefore you were created, Goku. Your only purpose in life is to help this girl, protect her with your own existence…you understand that, don't you?"**

"**I do…I was trained for this. It's my destiny…but I wonder: Can't you change destiny?"**

"**You can't. It is what is supposed to happen, and it will happen. All you suffered until now was for this one purpose. Help her, Goku. Only you can…"**

"**I know…"**

"**Good boy. Now take her with you. The best thing you can do is bring her as fast as possible to Bulma. This girl can help you more now than I can. But if you may need my help, the only thing you have to do is call my name."**

Goku nodded and took Chichi's attention back to him, when he said her name. Startled about the sudden change of topic Chichi looked at him surprised. She almost looked as if she did something bad and they witnessed it. "What is it?" She asked him in wonder. He did, as if he didn't hear her and stood up without a word bowed to Baba while saying "Eybdoog, Baba." and left for the front door.

Chichi hurriedly bowed too – a rather lousy bow – and bit her tongue while saying "Eybdoog, Baba!" before she ran after Goku, calling his name.

Baba watched them with a light chuckle on her lips. Oh, if they only knew, if they only knew…, she sang to herself while she sipped on her tea and stuck out her tongue. This brew really tasted horribly…

Chichi walked beside Goku who didn't say anything anymore, and it made her worry. Here she was, feeling out of place…was she already a bother to him? Did he want to…leave her alone now? Did this witch tell him something about what could happen if he stayed near her for too long? Or why didn't he say anything to her? Although she wouldn't get what he meant, he still could try to make her understand, couldn't he?

It wasn't her doing landing in this kind of place! It wasn't her wish to be some sort of heroine of a stupid tale! No wait a minute! How could she say to herself she believed in this stupid tale anyway? She just wanted to go home! Ah, this was confusing her! Ruffling her hair, she tried to calm her mind down. She never wanted to be special…in any way. She just wanted to quietly live her life as good as she could.

And now she wasn't allowed to! When her head snapped up and she wanted to say something to her companion she noticed that she lost him. Turning around she tried to find him, but she only saw other faces, that didn't bother to notice her either. "Goku?" she half cried but nobody made a sound as if he felt himself being talked to. "Goku?" she tried again and walked slowly around.

It just had to be her bad luck that only today there was a market. A very big market with lots of people! Chichi felt her hope being shattered to pieces when she bumped into a big man, who looked at her with narrowed eyes and grabbed her by her arm. "Yssim, luferac!" he roared in a deep voice that matched his face just perfectly. Chichi lightly shrieked and tried to get away from him, but she couldn't loosen his grip at all!

Ah, if only she would understand him! Or if only she would speak their language, then she maybe would have found a way out, but like this…it was impossible for her to do anything. So she just wiggled herself out of his "embrace", panic rising inside of her; she screamed Goku's name over and over again.

Until she heard her own name being called by a familiar soft voice.

Relieved about Goku's reappearance she ran over to him and hid behind his back, her little hands fisting into the material of his blue overall. The big guy looked at her and started to laugh out loud before he turned his gaze to Goku. **"Is she with you?"** the big guy asked him and Goku only nodded. **"She's not from here, is she?"**

Goku's heart skipped a beat. Nobody should be able to tell! But then again, she really didn't speak their language. **"No, she's from a far island and she's all alone. I found her when I was travelling the forest the other day. Since then she became very…trusting to me you could say."** Goku hoped his lie would work. He never was good with lying. Chichi looked between him and the big guy. What were they talking about?

Said big guy nodded understandingly. **"Sorry for scaring the little girl. I thought she looked lost, wanted to help her out though. But I guess I scared her more than she already was before!"** He laughed again and turned around while waving his big hand as a goodbye. Goku looked at Chichi who sniffled a bit, as her hands were still trembling. Goku sighed. This really was harder than expected…he just hadn't to protect her, he had to take care of her very well…

"Dnah." He demanded softly from her while he stretched his hand out.

"Dnah?" she repeated and sounded clearly irritated. What was he talking about? Goku smiled and grabbed her hand with his. "Dnah." he said to her again and only then did she clearly understand him. It would be some troublesome work to show her his language, but it was the only thing he could do while they travelled together.

And so her learning journey began.

It was new for her to travel around with nothing but the smallest things, like a bit to eat and nothing else…sleeping in the opening – alright, now that really took some time until she got used to it – searching for clear, fresh water…hunting…and all of it with a man, she barely knew. And whom she couldn't talk too much since she only started to learn his language.

She knew he was a kind one. Strange, crazy and weird but kind above all. There was so much to learn for her, she didn't even have the time to miss her normal life.

And that she might wake up from a nightmare…well, that thought left her long ago. She knew she wasn't dreaming, but why she was here and what she had to do she didn't know either. She just knew one thing for sure: she had to stay strong and do the best she could do.

It took her two months to finally feel comfortable with her "new life". Two months in which she learned things like fishing with only your hands or searching tracks of different animals…it was all in all…very exciting! And Goku had…much patience with her. Luckily.

Well, after these two months she was sitting with him on a big clearing, watching the cloudless starry sky.

"**Those things."** She asked him and pointed to the stars. **"What name?"**

He looked at her with his black eyes growing in wonder. **"You mean the stars?"**

"**S-stars?"**

"**Yes, that's right. Stars."**

She smiled brilliantly at him before her gaze wandered back to the sky. **"At home we have them too. Stars…moon…sun. Looks like here. Many things the same…" **and she went silent again while Goku looked at her profile in amazement. Did she miss her own world? Did she want to get back? He pitied her somehow…she didn't know what her purpose here was…and she didn't know that he never wanted her to know. Although Baba told him he couldn't change destiny and she had to fulfill it on her own…he didn't want Chichi to.

He thought to himself, the best thing he could do is let her live a peaceful life here, as good as she could!

And it had to be without him.

Although it would probably break her, he thought it was for the best she never saw him again. And because he had no idea how to send her back to her own world…she should try to live a new life here. While he would find a way to fulfill her task on his own…

In those two months she….she grew dear to him, he had to admit. But it shouldn't be like this. It never was supposed to be like this!

"**Goku?" **Chichi asked him with a small voice that sounded very tired all of a sudden. His head snapped to her. "I'm tired…" she added and he frowned. When her concentration failed her she always spoke in her native language and he just didn't understand her at all…

He hoped that in the one month they would travel together until they reached their current destination, she would be good enough with his language to be on her own. And by then, he could finally tell her that she never should mention the place where he found her. It would be her doom if anybody, who shouldn't, knew.

He ruffled her hair affectingly and stood up before he helped her up. **"Let's go to sleep."** He told her and she just nodded smiling at him. **"Sleep…"** she repeated. **"Sleep is good…"**

Luckily for Goku, Chichi spoke with him almost fluently three weeks later! Unfortunately they crossed some travelers and while they decided to travel with them, the last evening didn't went how it was planned at all…They were talking with each other, and Chichi tried to talk as much as she can, as she was determined to understand everything…Until they started to talk about the girl of legend…

They were eating fruits around a small fire – strange green little things and Chichi didn't know how to open them up – while one of the men asked the question. **"Ever heard of the tale of the legendary savior?"** The crowd whistled or gasped as they knew, the story would follow soon after…

Goku gulped and looked at Chichi who still watched him, how he opened the fruit. Once he opened it, he gave it to her. **"Thank you!"** she smiled at him and another one of the travelers grinned brazenly at him. Goku felt himself blush but didn't say anything, as he watched Chichi's reaction to the story. **"What tale is it?"** she wanted to know excitedly while she bit into the sweetness.

"**Listen carefully, girl! It is said, that a legendary fighter – a girl – lands every once in a while in the Black-valley. Nobody knows when it happens, it just happens. There goes a saying, that this once special girl reunites the dimensions for one time, in order to save them all. If her task isn't done, the universe will crumble down, and the darkness will rule all of it. But if she has success, everything stays normal, and she disappears as abrupt as she came…"** the traveler paused while everybody looked at him with interest showing in their eyes. Chichi turned to Goku and looked at him.

"**Black-valley…what about the place you found me, Goku? The grass was bla -!"**

"**Don't believe everything you hear, Chichi!"** Goku snapped at her and hammered his fist into the ground, hard. Chichi's eyes shot open in surprise and she lost the fruit that she held between her hands. **"Sorry, I was wrong…"**she whimpered.

The travelers looked at them and some of them laughed while one patted Goku's back and told him **"Don't snap at your wife like this! The sweet girl didn't want to anger you!"**

"**W-wife?"** Goku stammered. **"She's not my wife…"** he added while Chichi looked at him in confusion. _Efiw? I don't know what it means, but I'm too scared to ask, Goku doesn't look happy…and he is mad at me anyway…although I don't know why…maybe I should ask him tomorrow…_

"**Well, you guys. She should go to bed now. It's late and tomorrow we will finally reach Telia. About damn time…"** the leader of the small group told them and brought their attention back to their situation. The crowd nodded in agreement and they slowly disappeared into their tents while Chichi looked at Goku who looked far away, with his gaze lost in something she couldn't spot. Tomorrow they would reach Telia. Tomorrow was his last day with Chichi…and she was scared of him because he snapped at her. God, he was such an idiot.

When they separated from the others, Chichi and Goku took their own way to town. They hadn't spoken anything with each other and it hurt Chichi. He was like…everything to her. He rescued her, he helped her, he taught her what she had to know…he never was that angry with her. What was she supposed to do? **"Goku?" **she whispered after some miles and he stopped with his back to her. **"I'm sorry…"** she said with a small voice. **"I…did I understand wrong? I didn't want to make you angry…I just thought the Black-valley was the place we met…Did I get that wrong?"**

Goku sighed and turned around to her, her big black eyes piercing right through him. **"No you didn't…But you have to promise me, to never ever tell anybody that I found you in that place, hear me?"** She just nodded. His voice sounded serious, it frightened her.

And when he took two steps in her direction and brought his arms behind her back and pressed her into his chest, her heart stopped beating. **"I'm sorry too. But you really have to promise me to never tell anybody about it. Chichi?"**

She pressed her little nose into his chest and nodded her head. Something about his embrace felt utterly sad. Utterly and completely sad. It almost broke her heart.

If she had known it was his try to say goodbye, she definitely would have started to cry…

She would have cried.

Until there were no more tears able to come out…


	5. Three The tale of the genius Bulma Brief

_**Here I am again! With the third chapter and a little announcement: Chichi learned their language now, so I will write everything in the normal way, alright? Good!**_

_**Oh and, I never told you, that in this FanFic mostly all of the characters are OOC. I try to not let them be too different, but I can't help it, they have to change or they wouldn't fit into the plot…**_

_**I Don't Own Anything Of DBZ!**_

_**On with the "tale" (^_^)**_

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

**Three – The tale of the genius Bulma Briefs**

She ran. She ran from one corner to her other, crying one name desperately at the top of her lungs. Everybody was looking at her, but she didn't care, she just wanted to find him. She just wanted to have him by her side again.

How could he leave her without a single word? Chichi stopped midway on a little bridge to catch her breath while some little droplet of water rolled down her cheeks. How did it happen? Why did he go? Was she really a bother to him those three months long?

She really didn't know now, if she wanted to punch him or to hug him if he was there! She was angry….furious so to say. Even if she was a bother, he could have told her honestly! Because, if he had told her honestly, she would have been broken inside, but it would have been easier to restore her heart after cruel words…But now like this…He was nice to her, she trusted him, she _liked_ him and he broke her apart! And he left without a single word…Now there was no way she would be able to forget him!

Therefore she had to find him!

She did felt his change in behavior since they had reached Telia four days ago. The way he embraced her for the first and last time – and he never showed any signs of being the romantic type – or the way he looked at her. It was entirely different to his usual self: cheery, boyish, kind of dumb but intelligent at the same time, charming sometimes, kind, gentle and very, very warm. Always radiating this special aura of protection…Oh, how she missed that!

But now, he had gone missing! What was he thinking? He brought her to his friend's house, Bulma Briefs, and now his mission was accomplished, he could go? Leave her alone again after gaining her trust, loyalty and almost…no, he didn't gain anything further from her…did he? Chichi frowned at herself and clutched the spot over her heart.

She never thought about seeing him in _that_ way…Argh! But now it was too late to think about it, because he was nowhere to be found!

Her head was held low when she entered the big house – her obviously new home – and Bulma looked at her with big blue eyes. Her blue locks were brought up into a sloppy ponytail and her face was smattered with a black substance – maybe oil? Chichi had no idea, Bulma looked like that every single day…She was inventing stuff…a lot of stuff. Weird stuff.

Useful stuff? No idea, but it looked…interesting, you could say.

"You searched for him, didn't you, sweety?" The older woman asked Chichi tenderly while she stepped towards her, her blue eyes filled with pity. Chichi just nodded, still looking to the ground her fists clenched. "You miss him very much, I can see that." Bulma stated and shook her head with a sad smile. She didn't understand Goku, too. Leaving this little girl who obviously trusted him so very much…Sure, she was only seventeen and he wanted to protect her – that was his purpose in life anyway, or so he told her – but seeing her, this depressed…

It just didn't suit her.

"Won't he come back?" Chichi wanted to know, trying not to cry again…her eyes hurt from too much crying anyway. This world really took her down, she felt like a crybaby! Where was her courage? Where was her regular temper? It felt as if Goku just took all of it with him…_Damn him!_

Bulma turned her back at Chichi, not answering her question, as the answer was indeed very clear. He wouldn't. He was stubborn to begin with, and if he wanted to make things his own way, he just did it. He was like that when he was a small child and he was like that with his twenty-five. A never ageing, stubborn kid.

Bulma remembered the night he was talking with her before he left. Chichi was sleeping already, and Goku just watched her for a while near her bed before Bulma startled him by tipping on his shoulder. His gaze was low, almost desperate and so Bulma asked him, what was wrong…

"I have to leave, Bul." He nicknamed her. "And it would be nice if you could help me."

Bulma frowned at his words. "And what about the girl?" Was leaving her alone a good idea? At least, she _was _the legendary fighter, so she _had _to fulfill her destiny. Would everything work as he wanted it to work? _He_ planned on doing _her_ job although it should be impossible…

She was the _key._

She _was_ the key.

Not him. Not anybody else. But _her._

Would it really work?

Goku looked at Chichi's face with soft eyes. "It's for the better. She shouldn't be the one suffering, especially when I am the one protecting her."

"But the prophecy…"

"I don't care about the prophecy!" He hissed but calmed down seconds after. "I mean…I don't want to believe that an ordinary girl has to shoulder herself _involuntarily_ with something like this. I on the other hand know what is supposed to happen, or at least how it is supposed to. I mean…" He struggled for words and his hand wandered through his spiky hair.

Bulma smiled. "You like her very much, don't you?" was what she wanted to say, but she didn't. He hated talking about something like this. Stubborn guy, you see?

So she just nodded. "So you want to protect her by giving her the chance of a new life here. Am I right?"

A brief nod and everything was talked between them as Bulma noticed he didn't want to say anything anymore. "Take care of you." She whispered before she turned her back on him and left for the door, leaving him alone with Chichi, so that he could say goodbye to her without any witnesses…

Bulma shook her head once again while Chichi started to do something in the kitchen – she obviously loved cooking when she wanted to distract herself…unfortunately for Bulma she was eating quite a lot these past three days. She wondered what Goku was doing at the moment…

Goku looked over his shoulder as he watched the road he had gone until now. It didn't past one day where he wouldn't look behind, thinking…and it wasn't really in his nature to think that much. But he couldn't stop himself. It somehow became natural to look behind, watching when _she_ would finally catch up with him again…but she wasn't there, and it was for the better! He just had to believe in that, and travelling forward wasn't a problem any longer! Or was it?

Shaking his head he looked into the round little thing in his hand. Some yellow dots where showing on the green little screen and Goku's eyes narrowed. Somehow one dot was moving rather quickly since some minutes…and strangely enough it directly came into his direction…fast. Looking ahead again he decided to be cautious. When he guessed right it would only be half an hour and the thing he was searching for had to cross his path.

His question was just: how and with whom.

Hiding in a high tree he waited while he every once in a while checked the little screen between his fingers. It really was moving quickly, better be prepared for something big, he told himself.

Exactly half an hour later the dot must have been directly under the tree he was hiding, but nothing came…Searching with his eyes fanatically he wasn't able to spot anything, not even the ground was shaking – he thought maybe something was down under…but then something inside his brain made Click! and he looked into the sky.

"Shit…" was all he whispered while he watched how a grey dragon, ridden by an unfamiliar figure flew right past him, directly down the road he came from. Back to the next town.

Back to Telia.

Back to _her._

Destiny really was damn hard to change! He cursed while he jumped down the tree and raced back, as fast as he could.

The people outside the door were talking. Loud. Very loud. Chichi looked at Bulma, who looked out the nearest window before she stood up and opened the front door. An old woman stumbled back as she was pushed by the masses that gazed with amazement and fear at something. But what? Bulma frowned as she watched the people whisper with each other…all of their quiet murmurs escalating into a rather noisy sound.

"Bulma?" Chichi asked behind her, her eyes widened in shock.

"What is it?" Bulma wanted to know and followed Chichi's finger to the front…and gasped as she saw a big grey dragon, with red eyes standing in the middle of the plaza. Oh, she knew this dragon, she knew it just too well…How could she miss _that_? "Go inside." She insisted without looking at Chichi.

"What?" the girl snapped – great, now her temper was back!

"Just go! And hide, hear me?"

"But why…"

"Don't ask too much, just do as I say!" With that, Bulma pushed her inside the house and closed the door, while she herself stayed outside, breathing in hard and preparing her for the uninvited visitor.

Chichi crossed her arms in anger and looked at the closed wooden door before her. Why should she hide? What the hell was going on here? But, oh well…_Just do as she told you…_, she said to herself, turned around and vanished behind a secret door that looked like any ordinary wall. Bulma showed it to her the first time she was coming over, with the words: "Sometimes my customers are rather…violent." _What kind of customers did she have anyway? Hunters? Fighters?_ Chichi had thought while she had looked at the inventions of Bulma. "I don't want you to be hurt, sweety." The woman had added that day.

Sweety….a nickname only her mother had used on her, and she hated it when somebody other than her Mum called her like that…Chichi sighed while she vanished behind the door and hid herself in the darkness of the little "room" – she could barely turn around!

The door clicked and Chichi pressed her ear against the thin door, wanting to know what was supposed to happen. Bulma told her, once she would be hiding only by her knocking was she allowed coming out again. But Bulma didn't knock, instead a deep, raspy manly voice was talking.

And Chichi's heart froze. Something about this voice sounded really cold, it frightened her.

"Don't play dumb, woman!" The man roared and Chichi heard Bulma breathing in. They stood directly near her!

"I really don't know what you are talking about, Vegeta! And what do you think you are doing anyway? Coming here, landing with your enormous monster right in the middle of Telia! Are you nuts?"

"I don't care what you like or don't like! Now give me the girl!"

"There is no girl!" Bulma yelled back! Chichi held her breath. Were they talking about her? But…why?

"Don't play dumb, woman, I warned you before!" The man named Vegeta hissed dangerously. "You know the contract you have with my king. You insisted to help _us_ in order to…" He paused darkly. "…you know what will happen if you disobey me?"

"I do." Bulma bitterly agreed.

"Then why do you deny having the girl?" Wait a minute! Did his voice just soften a little?

"Why do you believe I have her?" She shot back.

"Because of this." Something rustled and Bulma gasped. "Why do you have -?"

"The king gave it to me. It reacts to the appearance of the girl of legends. See? It was only a stone before, but since about three months it looks like this. And it leads me to _you_, Bulma."

"But I really don't have her - !"

"Why do you lie, damn it!" He suddenly roared and Chichi automatically shrieked back, clasping a hand over her mouth. Hopefully they didn't hear that?

"I'm not lying! She's not here. She _was_ here, but she…ran away two days ago…I don't know where to…" Bulma lied. Bulma lied pretty good, because Vegeta seemed to believe her. Chichi was amazed!

"You sure?" he wanted to know.

"Absolutely…"

"Was she alone?"

"…Yes…"

"You lie."

"I don't!"

"Woman, there's no denying it! She was _not_ alone, wasn't she? You know I know you good enough! Your brow twitches every time you lie and now it twitched as bad as it could!" He roared. "Where did she go to?"

"Vegeta, let go!" Bulma insisted, and Chichi's nails ducked themselves into the flesh of her palms. What was this guy doing? Should she come out? No…she wasn't allowed to…but, he searched her, maybe it would be for the best she showed herself?

"I won't let go as you will come with me!"

"NO!" Bulma yelled but a slap silenced her. "Hitting me won't help you…" she whispered darkly before her body fell to the ground with a low thud. Chichi froze in place…what happened just now?

"I'm sorry for slapping you, but you don't leave me another choice…" the man said quietly before Chichi heard him throwing something over his shoulder and leaving the house with big wide steps. The door closed and it became very quiet…

Chichi's heart raced with her breath and tears of fear hung in her eye's corner.

What was it? Someone was searching for her? What was this thing this man showed Bulma? Why did the king want her? What was this contract, they were talking about? Oh, this was all very confusing to Chichi!

She waited another half an hour before she felt the courage to finally come out of her secret spot. The house was empty when she searched it through, just like she predicted. Sinking down to the ground she didn't know what to do anymore. First Goku, now Bulma. Everybody was taken away from her! But she couldn't become weak now! She had to stay strong; maybe she would be able to find a way out of this!

Slapping her cheeks, she started to pack some stuff into a small bag she thought she would need before she stepped out of the house and asked herself, what the hell she was supposed to do now! Where should she go to? _I'm so stupid…_she said to herself before she just started to walk, heading to the northern gate of Telia. _I mean, I have no idea where I am! Then how should I know where to go to?_

And while she vanished between the crowds into the direction of the northern gate, Goku slammed the door of Bulma's house open, screaming for her name and Chichi's. Clearly, no answer was coming to him. His tail moved angrily from one side to the other and he punched his fist into a wall, leaving a hole in it. Fisting his hands in his hair he cursed under his breath while he stepped up and down, thinking who the man with the dragon could have been…God, did he already mess things up with his stubborn behavior?

No, no, no! He just wanted her to be save…and now…why wasn't she here? Why wasn't she safe…?

"You stupid boy…" old witch Baba whispered to herself while she watched everything through her glass-ball and bit into a little cracker. Didn't she tell him he would be the only one to protect her? Didn't she tell him he should never leave her side? Why wasn't he listening to her? Shaking her head she bit into another cracker. "Listen to your elders, kid…" she told him without him hearing her and sipped her tea before she switched back to Chichi who currently wandered a stony road, Telia already behind her…

This wasn't very easy, Chichi had to admit. The sun was crashing down on her mercilessly. Her head hurt because of her lack of sleep and her nerves were down – if Eleona would be here with her, she definitely would have said "I dreamed about it last night! I tell you, I dreamed about it!" Smiling lightly Chichi stopped and looked into the blue sky above her.

She didn't know if she should be happy about her life and her destiny anymore. If somebody had told her, she would be…transported to another world just like this, she surely would have laughed! Thinking about the tale she read she asked herself what she was supposed to do anyway.

_I mean, in this tale there stood that the legendary heroine was responsible to make the earth turn again…Good, how should I do that? Give it a push? Very funny…Huh…Maybe somebody got it wrong and not I'm the heroine but it was all just a misunderstanding…that seems more plausible!_

"Hey, there, little girl!" a stranger took her out of her thoughts. "All alone?"

Looking at his stupid grin, Chichi decided to ignore him and just leave on. Gripping the string of her bag she started to walk again, quicker this time. "Hey, hey, hey! No reason to run away from me, missy!" The guy yelled and suddenly popped up right beside her. Chichi just walked on. Maybe he would stop harassing her if he thought she was deaf?

When he grabbed her arm she yanked him away and sneered "Don't touch me!" He smirked.

"Nice little one, aren't you? I would get a high price for a rare beauty like you…you are not from here? You have an accent…"

A high price? What was he talking about…she narrowed her eyes at him. "Leave me alone! I don't have anything I could give you!"

"I believe you do…"

"And I don't! Goodbye!" She hissed and walked away…until his hand stopped her again. Now her patience snapped and she punched her fist automatically into his face. Something cracked and Chichi held her knuckles…that one hurt!

"You damn little thing! You broke my nose!" But she didn't hear him curse at her anymore, as she ran away from him as fast as possible…Somehow she was proud of herself to have defended herself, on the other hand she didn't want to do it like that again! She broke his nose!

She ran for awhile, looking here and then behind her, hoping he wouldn't follow her. Only when she really thought she was safe did she stop running. She had to catch her breath…hard. Her sides were aching and she could taste blood. _There we have it!_ She puffed inside her head. _Two steps out alone and the first problem occurred. God…am I even able to stay alive like that?_

Sitting down on a big broken branch Chichi sighed desperately and laid her head in her palms. "I really would like to go home now…" she whispered with a teary voice. Being absolutely unaware of her surroundings, Chichi didn't notice the cracking sounds coming from behind…

Goku ran. He ran as if his life depended on it. Where should he search? He asked people if they knew about the guy with the dragon. An old woman reported him, that said man left with one person thrown over his shoulder. At the question how she looked like the answer was always the same: Blue hair, female. That's all Goku got to know. One person, blue hair, female. Bulma.

So where was Chichi? Standing near the northern gate he looked at the scenery behind the city-walls. Could she…? It could be possible. But why should she? It would make no sense…And Chichi wasn't stupid. She never would leave into any direction without knowing where to go to…now would she?

When he suddenly spotted a figure in the distant, he took off with light feet and a wild beating heart. It was a man. A man with a rather bloody nose. A rather bloody nose and a dirt spitting mouth…he was cursing like a madman!

"What happened?" Goku wanted to know. He already had the image of robbers inside of his head, kidnapping Chichi who would try to wiggle herself out while screaming his name…

"You want to know what happened?" The man snapped at him with red eyes. "How does it look like to you? Huh? I don't suppose you think I got such a face from falling down, do you?"

No, Goku thought this guy was not the handsome type to begin with…

"Were you attacked?" He asked the stranger who only snorted as if this question was the silliest thing you could ask a man with blood in his face.

"Attacked…" He repeated. "I wouldn't say it like that…"His face got dark and Goku frowned. What was this man talking about? He wanted to know if this road was dangerous or not! If it was he had to be quick!

"Then how did that happen?" Goku asked him again, slowly getting inpatient.

The guy murmured something. "What?" Goku asked further.

"A woman!" The guy yelled at him, clearly hurt in his pride. "Stupid little brat, hit me without a reason…"

Goku' heart skipped a beat. Was it maybe Chichi? Goodness, then it meant she was alright!

"How did she look like?" He asked, packing the guy on his shoulders, pretty forcefully.

"Ow! Watch it, bastard! You want to know how she looked like?" He grinned darkly. "Then ask my ass…"

"I don't have time for that, man!" Goku sneered at him. "So I ask you only time: How did she look like?"

"And I don't like to repeat myself either, so ask…my…-" he wasn't allowed to finish his insult, as a piercing scream echoed through the day. Goku's face automatically formed her name on his lips as he was tossing aside the weird guy and ran down the street.

Hopefully he wouldn't be too late…

He already hated himself for leaving her.


	6. Four The tale of the forbidden forest

**Four – The tale of the forbidden forest**

Chichi looked with big eyes at the white cat that had sprung into her lap, purring and digging her paws into the material of her trousers. "Gosh, you surprised me!" She breathed out and scratched the little thing behind her ears. "What are you doing here?" She wanted to know from the animal and smiled as the cat actually meowed as if it wanted to answer her.

"My, you are a sweet little thing, aren't you? Are you all alone?" Purring and leaning itself into the caress Chichi gave her, the cat snuggled herself nearer to the warmth radiating from our heroine. Chichi laughed silently and enjoyed the sudden company. How it would be nice to actually have someone to talk to! Maybe that somebody could answer some of her questions? Ah, it would have been nice...

As if it suddenly had enough from Chichi's caress the cat looked up ten minutes later, blinked a few times and hopped back on the ground and with quick little steps vanished behind the next bush. "Hey, where are you going? Great…as if everybody wants to leave me…"Chichi murmured dissatisfied.

"Not everybody…" a husky voice whispered from behind into her ear and a hand covered her nose and mouth, while Chichi screamed at the top of her lungs. Until she noticed the cloth over her face; it smelled unfamiliar…The last thing she thought desperately before she fell asleep was: _I think I'm a magnet for things like this…_

Meanwhile Goku raced for her…but the only thing he found was a white cat, meowing while looking into one direction…And the direction it was gazing at was more than just dangerous…it was forbidden.

Chichi had no idea where she was when she woke up again. It was dark and cold although a little fire was burning in one corner. Her throat ached when she swallowed a little…sure, she hadn't had anything to drink since Bulma got kidnapped! And who knows how long she had been unconscious anyway? A voice took her back to her situation, while she sat up, her body hurting everywhere. "So, you're awake?"

Chichi gasped and looked into the direction the voice was coming from. A man was leaning against a wall. So she was somewhere inside, it seemed…"What do you want from me?" Chichi managed to say while her body trembled in fear. She was so scared that she didn't know if she should cry or be unwisely brave. She obviously took the way "unwisely brave".

"Don't be afraid, I don't want to hurt you."

Chichi snorted. "Oh, sure! Then why did you kidnap me in the first place? If you don't want to hurt me, then why not just stepping in front of me and asking what I can do for you instead of benumbing me!"

The man – still standing in the dark – chuckled. "I don't think you would have spoken with me."

"What makes you think that?" Chichi demanded and her eyes grew big when he finally showed himself by stepping into the dim light of the fire. She couldn't believe what she saw. She was sure her eyes were playing a joke on her. Half of his face was gone…it was blank! While his right half showed eye, brow, nose and mouth, his left side looked like a piece of paper. Flat, even…no signs of facial characteristics at all.

"Oh my god…" slipped out of her mouth and she covered her lips with her hand. She didn't want to insult him, it just…happened!

His half-mouth went up into a smile. "See? Told you, you wouldn't have spoken with me."

"But…why? How…?" she wanted to know as she couldn't bring herself to look away. Her eyes were glued to his face. He just shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You only have to believe me; I really don't want to hurt you!"

So, what else could she do thinking about her current situation? She nodded and believed him. He may look awfully, but she sensed he had a kind heart. His eye was…as clear as the afternoon sun in summer. Eyes like that wouldn't lie…couldn't lie.

"What do you want from me?" She slowly asked him and backed away on instinct, when he fell to his knees right before her. "You have to help me, only you can!"

She looked at him baffled. "W-why? How come it's me? You don't know me, neither do I know you!"

"Look at this!" He said to her with a hard voice and showed her a little yellow ball. It slightly glowed in his hand.

"What is it?" Chichi almost choked out, it frightened her. "And why does it glow like that?"

"It never glowed before…" he admitted and looked softly at the round thing inside of his hand. "It's glowing because it's responding to you, legendary fighter…"

"Oh no!" Chichi cried out. "Don't you dare start something like this! I'm not, I repeat, not responsible for this stupid ball glowing!" She sighed hysterically as she stood up and walked away from him. The man looked at her surprised. "What do you mean? You are not the legendary fighter?"

"I'm not! I don't know why everybody thinks I'm something special, but I'm not. Alright? I just want to find my friends and then find a way back home…that's all I ever wanted!"

The half-face got its saddest expression it could manage and the man hung his head while the little ball fell from his grasp and rolled directly before Chichi's feet, tapping her shoe a little…

"I got it wrong!" He chanted out like a mantra over and over again. "I got it wrong, my love, I'm so sorry, I got it wrong…" Chichi looked at him confused. He wasn't talking to her, so who was he talking to, referring to the "my love"?

Looking to the ground and seeing the weird ball, she whispered "I'm sorry…" and took it from the ground. But the moment she touched it, it felt as if it wanted to burn her fingers and with a little gasp she took her fingers back. The ball suddenly started to pulsate and changed from its yellow color to a reddish one. "What…what is happening?" she cried out as her body started to heat up, her heart beat in the same rhythm as the ball before her pulsated. Looking at her hands she frighteningly noticed that they were glowing the same color as the little ball.

What was happening with her? She desperately started to cry as she just looked at her glowing hands. "What is it?" She wanted to know. "What is it? Make it stop! Stop it! I don't want that…I don't want…" she yelled fanatically. The man looked with his one eye at her, his half-mouth forming an "oh", before the light abruptly vanished into nothingness, and Chichi fell down to the ground, breathing in and out very quickly. Sweat was on her forehead and her tears were sticking to her cheeks.

"What was that?" She staggered. "What was that?"

"I don't know…" the man answered honestly. "But look!" he pointed to the yellow ball. "There are suddenly stars in it."

"Stars?" She whispered and remembered the day she asked Goku how they called "stars." No idea why he suddenly popped up at the mention of stars, but it made her feel completely and utterly sad.

"So you really are the legendary fighter…" the stranger stated, sounding very delighted and Chichi didn't know what to say anymore. "Can you help me?" He insisted while she just sat on the floor, wishing for someone to take her away. Just away…

Goku rushed from one tree to another, not knowing where to turn next. This forest was forbidden, and everybody knew why. Once you were inside, you weren't able to find your way out again. When he found the cat sitting there, he didn't think much about it, but the kitten _was_ looking at something…and that something was bag…a bag that smelled awfully like Chichi…his animalistic mind told him.

She was here, inside, somewhere…

"What do you want from me?" Chichi lamely asked the man with his half-face again. She was tired all of a sudden. Really tired, her mind felt broken. She couldn't handle the happenings any longer, as if her soul was being eaten by a strange force.

"Only your help…, legendary – "

"Don't call me like that! My name is Chichi!"

"Can you save her?" The man talked as if Chichi never snapped at him.

"Who?" she wanted to know.

"My wife…"

A sudden chill made Goku stop and he looked around. Could it be that he had been here minutes ago? Looking up he thought it was awfully quiet in here. The birds stopped singing and no wind was rustling through the leaves…a quiet womanly cry landed in his ears. It wasn't Chichi's cry; he knew that from the start. But there was someone weeping and sighing.

Goku shook his head. Where his senses playing a prank on him? He had no time to think about something like this, he had to find Chichi as soon as possible!

"Why do you think I'm able to help her?" Chichi wanted to know while she sipped on her hot tea he gave her after she calmed herself down again.

"Because you are the legendary fighter." He said matter-of-factly.

"Listen, Zero." She called him by his given name. "I don't know what makes you think I can, but I'm just an ordinary girl. And that thing…that happened before with this…"

"Dragonball…"he helped her.

"Yes, with this weird thing. I don't know what it was but I'm only me. There's nothing more and nothing less."

Zero smiled at her. "You're a nice girl, Chichi. But still, only you can help her."

"Yes, but why?"

"That I don't know, I just know it has to be you…"

Goku was lost. Sighing and ruffling his hair he looked at the tree he marked in order to find out where he was going to and if he was walking in circles. Obviously he _was_ walking in circles, because he had marked said tree about five times by now. Standing before it he heard the crying of a woman again. He told himself he was going crazy…the reason why this was called the forbidden forest.

"Help me…" Came a silent plea from anywhere. The voice sounded far away, yet near. Turning around his body went tense. "Who's there?" he wanted to know.

"Help me…" was the only answer he got. "Help me…I can't find a way out…help me…"

"Who are you?" Goku yelled, but the voice didn't return. Instead there was a woman, dressed entirely white standing far away from him, pointing to a direction. When Goku's head followed her lead and he wanted to look back at her, she was gone…Shaking his head in confusion, he still walked to where she was showing him. Maybe she wanted to help _him_.

"So…how am I going to save your…wife?" Chichi asked Zero who sat across from her and half-smiled at her calmly.

"Your soul." He simply said and Chichi inclined her neck. "Say what?"

"I need your soul in order to save her." Alright, now that sounded spooky to her!

"You must be kidding!" she demanded but his sad eye said otherwise. "I'm sorry, but you have to really believe me, when I said I never wanted to hurt you. It's not your fault, really. But I have no other choice…there is no other way!" He cried by now and suddenly lunged himself at Chichi, who reacted instinctively and rolled to her side, came quickly to her feet and left to the front door and out of the little hut.

Strangely enough she took the yellow ball – Zero called it dragonball – with her. Why? No idea, but her body refused to go without this thing between her fingers. Luckily her body didn't heat up anymore. Glancing backwards she saw Zero racing after her. _Why does everybody want to…do me any harm? What did I do, damn it?_

She was glad that she never really believed him. To be honest…who could believe a guy who had only half of his face left, one hundred percent?

Goku stood at a next corner, not knowing where to go to until the white woman appeared again, once more pointing to a direction before vanishing. It was the fifth time already and Goku had no idea what or who it was or why it was even there. All the while there was crying coming to his ear every now and then – now from different women – weeping they wouldn't know their way out. Goku guessed this was some sort of curse. Hopefully Chichi was safe!

A sudden scream – he knew too well – let the blood inside his veins freeze and he ran with fast speed to the location.

Chichi was lying flat on her stomach. It was so typical for her to fall down on every stupid occasion! Just as typical as the fact, that a jam toast was always landing on the jam side! Coming up again she tried to get away from Zero, who suddenly attacked her and covered her with his body, tears streaming out of his one eye…

"Why are you doing this!" Chichi yelled at him.

"Because I need to! If I want to save her, I have to do this!" Chichi wiggled underneath him, scared to death. "But, there has to be another way!"

"There isn't!" He yelled. "There isn't…I'm really sorry…" he whispered again before he held the knife in his hand over her chest, ready to strike it down. Chichi closed her eyes and whispered something, waiting for the pain to come.

But nothing happened. Except the yell she heard. And it was her name that was being called. Opening her eyes she directly looked into the black ones of Goku who hovered above her, clear worry shimmering in his face.

Without thinking she threw her arms around his neck and buried her little nose into his chest, crying like crazy, whispering his name over and over again. There was so much stress falling off of her when she had spotted his face, and when he brought his arms around her back in a tight embrace she felt safe again, finally…

"Why…" a sudden cry took both of them away from their strange reunion. Zero was sitting on the ground, his hands covering his face. "Why am I unable to save her? Since she disappeared then years ago into this forest I haven't seen her." He whimpered. "I have searched everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. I sold half of my face to a demon, who promised me he would help me…but look! His curse was: Find the right woman and kill her, in order to save your wife. A pure soul in exchange for your love…"

Goku growled at him and snapped "And therefore you killed all of those women who still wander around here, unable to find a way out. Ghostly appearances who can't find their final peace!"

Chichi touched his arm gently in order to calm him down. Looking into her brownish black eyes he sighed and shut his mouth again. Zero shook his head. "I didn't do it! I only wanted to talk to them, helping them find a way out as I know this forest very well. But every time they saw me they got scared and ran away…and while they ran the stumbled, fell from little cliffs, strangled themselves accidentally with small branches…I never wanted them dead."

"Then why did you want to kill me?" Chichi asked silently and felt Goku tense up. Zero looked at her apologetically. "I heard the tale of the legendary fighter. A girl, pure, like no other being on earth. I thought she could help me. So I stole this dragonball from a rich salesman…and who would have thought! I found you! And when I thought your soul could be pure enough to save my wife, I just did it…I'm sorry."

"A simple sorry doesn't compensate what you did!" Goku sneered. Chichi went past Goku and kneeled in front of Zero, only to find Goku standing right beside her, his hand protectively on her shoulder. "You know what, Zero?" Chichi smiled at him. "I think your wife brought me to _you_ in order to _save_ you."

"Why do you say that?"

Chichi smiled and pointed into a direction where Zero's head turned to. "Seria?" He whispered as he watched the white woman who smiled at them and formed the words. "Thank you." with her lips before she slowly vanished into thin air.

A white little cat jumped through the forest-ground and jumped right into Zero's lap after she caressed Chichi's hand with her head shortly.

"Come out of here." Chichi said to him. "Come out of here and start a new life. I guess Seria " she nodded to the cat smilingly "wants the same thing."

"I guess you are right." Zero grinned with his half-face and truly felt happy after his ten long years of searching.

When they said their goodbyes, Chichi and Goku walked out of the forest – Zero told them how to get out – while both of them were very quiet. Goku took a hold of her hand and squeezed it as if he wanted to glue himself mentally to her. Chichi smiled while she watched their linked fingers.

It felt like a miracle that he was here again…but…how did he find her? Why was he here? Suddenly a lot of questions where crashing through Chichi's brain.

When they finally saw the sunset outside of the forest, Goku turned around to her and his tensed face relaxed while he sighed and let go of her hand. "I'm so glad you are save…" he said with a low voice and Chichi couldn't help but blush at his words.

"I'm sorry to have worried you." She smiled but got an angry face only seconds after. "Wait a minute! You left me, so why am I the one apologizing?"

"I'm sorry…" he apologetically murmured. With one step Chichi brought her arms around his torso and pressed her face into his shirt. "Could you stay beside me, now? Promise me to never leave me alone like this!"

Burying his face into her hair and tightening the embrace his whispered. "I won't. I promise."

He couldn't anyway. His heart wasn't that strong to be able to withstand those kind of situations like just now ever again! She was killing him, so to say, when she was about to be killed…

"Good…" She smiled and looked into his eyes. "Then tell me what those things here are!" She demanded rather quickly, destroying the mood completely while she showed him the yellow ball with its four stars in it.

Goku groaned. This could be become rather exhausting! He looked into her shining eyes and smiled. But maybe it wouldn't be that bad to let destiny rule over them…

But just for the time being.


	7. Five The tale of the evil bastards

_**Puh! Here I am again! It took me some time to write this one, I had to rewrite it over and over again…but now, I'm content with the outcome! Sorry for all my misspellings, I hope there aren't many writing-mistakes. I'm tipping to fast^^**_

_**Thanks for all of your reviews; I just like to read them, they make my day and my writing worthwhile!**_

_**(Gue22: You are so funny^^ Thank you very much. How's your story going, btw?)**_

_**(Sayajin-Love: You were the first to review this one, I never thanked you for that^^)**_

_**(gleeeeeeeeeeeeek: I like your name, haha)**_

_**(Chichiforever: Somehow your name misses the Goku part!^^)**_

_**Shortly some answers to your questions:**_

_**Where I get my ideas from: Honestly, no idea…**_

_**Where this story will lead to: Honestly, no concrete idea but a vague one^^**_

_**Why I don't own anything of DBZ: That, my friends, is a mystery nobody can solve…=)**_

_**Now, on with the story!**_

_**xxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**_

**Five – The tale of the evil bastards**

"You really shouldn't underestimate the king's patience, woman." Vegeta said in a low voice to Bulma who sat in a little comfortable looking room, gazing straight out of the window. Her blue eyes shot to him dangerously and she hissed. "I cannot tell about something I don't even know about myself!"

Vegeta's nails bored themselves into his palms as he clenched his hands into fists. "So you decide to stay stubborn?"

Bulma's eyes changed to a more desperate expression as she faced the warrior now completely. "I don't even know what you want from me! How should I now about the girl of legend? Just because this stupid ball lead you to me? And just because I have a task to fulfill – or rather a curse to break – you think you can use me to your hearts contents? It wasn't me that – "

"Enough!" His fist banged down on the little table that crashed down under his force. "You shouldn't insult our king."

"I don't see a king…" Bulma challenged him. And his eyes got as cold as ice. His body trembled and Bulma could see how he pressed his teeth together in order not to yell at her. Straightening his back he turned around and stopped just before the door to say. "I'll come again, and I await some clear answers…" With that he left and all that could be heard from him were his footsteps leading away.

Bulma sighed and slumped down in her chair while she quietly whispered to herself. "What happened to us, Vegeta?" But only silence could give her an answer…

"Goku, look what I found!" Chichi cried in excitement as she yelled for her only companion on her adventurous journey through a different world. It had been exactly three months and two weeks since she had come here. Three months and two weeks in which she faced more trouble then she had in her own world with her seventeen years…

Her daddy must miss her over all this time…she wondered if they were searching for her in her own world? Did they think she was dead? Or could Eleona successfully tell them about her vision? But then again, would they believe her?

A voice right beside her – she just loved to hear – brought her back to the present. "What is it, Chi?" Goku looked at her red face. She blushed at her new giving nickname. Since he had found her again one week and three days ago he had started to call her simply "Chi". Eleona was the only one who had called her like that…but hearing it from him; it felt different…exciting…tingling.

"Chi?" Goku tried to bring her back and earned a confused look from her. He had to stifle a smile. "What did you find?" He asked her again and suddenly her face lit up again, and she pointed to a little hut standing in the middle of a clearing, right below the cliff they were standing on. "Look! I think it should be empty!"

He smiled at her excitement. He had to admit, her companionship was more pleasant than anything ever was for him and the way she smiled at him when he praised her was so sweet he wanted to praise her for everything and every time. "God job!" Goku said and got what he wanted. The cutest thing he should see beside sugar. Although he knew he would have to abandon said smile again…

It was just too dangerous for her; he clearly saw it and it got clearer and clearer the more the wheel of time progressed forward. It would end badly, he felt it. And he wanted to protect her perfectly. The more time he spent with her, the more precious she became to him, although he couldn't describe what it was that made her special. It wasn't just her title…but more…Argh! He couldn't explain it! But he had to ensure her safety, no matter what! She still beamed when they continued walking and he felt his own heart tighten at the thought of leaving her again.

Chichi's heart fluttered like a little bird that flew for the first time. She couldn't describe the feeling; but she got it since she found him again. The way he treated her suddenly after Bulma's sudden disappear….it was as if he was even more afraid she herself could suddenly vanish. And it made her seem so important to him, she felt like an unknown price. Every now and then his hand would brush hers as if he wanted to make sure she would still walk beside him.

And although he tried to explain the things that were happening around them – he told her about the dragonballs and what will happen if you find all seven although she still didn't get her role in all of that – and how dangerous they were – Bulma's kidnapping proved it – Chichi couldn't help but not feel afraid. He still didn't tell her everything, she knew there was more to it, but she still wasn't afraid, because he was here, with her.

_So….I really am the legendary fighter. That's the way Zero called me. I cannot say I like my new given task but…as long as Goku's beside me I think I can make the best out of it…although I still don't know what I'm supposed to do…Why wouldn't Goku just tell me! Ah, if only I could ask that old witch, I guess she knows…_Chichi thought while her eyes shifted from the road to the neutral face of Goku and back to the road again. _He's keeping something to himself, I can see it…_

When after an hour they finally reached the little hut it indeed was – as she presumed – empty. Although the way until there was longer than she thought…_As I found the hut it looked as if it was right below us! Damn, those hills are driving me mad, I swear!_ Chichi was glad she could sit down.

"Good thing, there is still some wood left for a fire…" Goku quietly stated gladly and sat down while he piled them up into a nice pile and started to make a cozy warm atmosphere for both of them. Chichi sighed and analyzed the wooden little home while rubbing her ankles. Her feet were killing her, those shoes were heavy and her feet weren't used to walking so much. Her body ached too, she noticed sadly while she massaged her shoulder shortly.

"Goku…" She whined and he looked at her with confused eyes. Why did she sound so whiny all of a sudden? "What is it?"

"What are we going to do from now on?" She curiously wanted to know. Walking around couldn't be all that they could do, was it? They were walking around aimlessly ever since, she have had enough! It was as if he wanted to let time do the rest of what is supposed to be! But that wasn't what Chichi had in mind, she wanted something to do! And she finally wanted to know what _her role_ was in all of this craziness.

Maybe finding Bulma would be a good start? Or even searching for those balls? If they were supposed to grant one peculiar wish why not using it for saving Bulma? _Wait a minute…I don't think that would be wise…_, Chichi warned herself. _But what else should I wish for? Please make my earth turn around again? Sure thing! As if that would ever happen! Nobody knows where I'm coming from…What else? Please take me back?_ Her eye gazed at Goku's sadly thinking face. _What if I don't want to anymore…?_

"First of all…" Goku took her back and looked intensely at her, waiting for her reaction carefully "…I will find a place for you to stay."

"Huh?" Chichi was baffled. Did she hear just right? No, wait a minute! She clearly had to clean her ears! "What?"

"I will find a place for you to stay." He repeated, slower this time.

So she did hear right. "But…why? I thought we…you…I don't get what you mean…Do you want to leave me again just like last time?" She got angry, as she wasn't just stressed out but tired above all and…hurt by his words!

"No!" He tried to assure her, turning his back now fully to the fire and facing her. "I just want you to be safe…and…"

"Safe?" She roared. "Oh, how safe I was while you left me with Bulma! She has gone missing and could be who-knows-where while I was locked up in a closet-like room and you want to let that happen again?"

"Of course not!" Goku shot a little louder back. "But…it's just not safe for you to be with me…"

"Is it because I'm the girl of legend?" She got straight to the point. His eyebrows went up in confusion. "Why do you think that?"

Now was her chance to get her answers, or so she thought when she started to speak up her mind. "Because ever since I got here there always happened something that lead me to conclusion that I'm the reason the things around us are happening." _As if he wouldn't know that…_she interrupted herself in her head sarcastically but went on soon after. "The fault why Bulma was kidnapped is mine. The reason why the people in every village we cross are hopefully looking to the sky is because they hope the legendary angel will help them – although I have no idea what I'm supposed to do! But I believe you know…"

Goku looked to the ground feeling defeated. "Goku, why are the dragonballs responding to me? Why was this man who kidnapped Bulma searching for me? Why is it, that there are people believing I can help them? And why is it that you want to leave me alone all the time? Am I a burden to you? Do you think I'm not good enough to fulfill my destiny…?"

"Chi, what should your destiny probably be?" He suddenly snapped. "Don't you think it's unfair? You, coming from another world with no idea what you should do, feeling the burden of another dimension on your shoulders. Alone in here, no plan what is supposed to happen. Your life shouldn't even be here!"

And Chichi knew he was right. She really didn't understand why it had to be her. She never really understood at all. But she learned to live with it. She always made the best out of every situation, like now. She agreed to her destiny, she wasn't afraid of it. "But I can't change it now, can I? I'm here, and you found me." She matter-of-factly stated and left him speechless.

Yes, she was right. But it still seemed unfair to him…"I need some fresh air…" he said and stood up, leaving the tensed atmosphere. He was angry with himself! Chichi really behaved like an angel now and it practically killed him, because he was torn up inside. He didn't want to leave her, but he didn't want to let her be in danger too! But here she sat and told him that she just had to live her destiny, which he desperately tried to change! Why didn't it work?

She looked behind him and sighed. Why wouldn't he talk to her? Leaving her in a complete darkness wasn't helping at all…

When Goku returned Chichi was lying on the ground breathing evenly. He sighed and brought a blanket over her shivering body. "When you're cold, then use it…" he scolded her lightly but smiled at the same time. His eyes landed on her face and…did she cry? Great work, he cursed himself. Making her cry was the last thing he wanted to do. Brushing her hair out of her face and laying his hand on top of her head– an intimate gesture he only allowed himself because she wasn't looking – he caressed her forehead with his thump while he watched her sleeping face.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled. She didn't stir by his words but her mouth moved a little and it looked really adorable. He watched her until he fell asleep himself, still not knowing what he should do…

The next day they weren't talking at all with each other. Chichi was still angry at him and Goku just didn't know what to say, so he kept silent. And so they were walking, side by side but very far away from each other at the same time. It was somehow nerve wrecking.

Just when Chichi found the courage to say something to him – she wanted to throw an insult into his face – he lifted his hand right before her mouth without touching it and "shh-ed" her with his eyes fixated on something on the road. When Chichi – confused and irritated – followed his gaze she saw an old man standing on the road, grinning rather dirtily at her. "What is it?" she whispered as he didn't move his hand away at all. "It's just an old geezer…"

"It's not human." Goku lowly explained her and the grin the old man held grew wider.

"Not human?" Chichi questioned and looked at the man again, searching for something that helped her seeing the non-human side. But it really just looked like an old geezer to her. A creepy old guy. "Goku, aren't you imagining things now?"

"No…"

"HeLLo, LiTTlE GiRl…" the man in a raspy old weird voice suddenly started to talk. It sounded like a high pitched tone and hurt in her ears. Goku automatically shielded her with his body. "YoU HaVe SoMeThInG I WaNt…" His sneer got even wider now and Chichi finally noticed what was un-human to him. His eyes were entirely white and all of his upper teeth were longer than the ones below. His mouth was much too wide for his face. It went from one ear to the other. Chichi shivered; this guy was disgusting…

"GiVe It To Me, I WaNt It…I WaNt it…GiVe mE!" And suddenly his arm shot out and stretched itself out until it could touch both of them but Goku slapped it back with the strange strength of his and shouted to Chichi she should hide. But she was too frozen in place to hide. Her legs prohibited themselves to move from the spot.

"Run away, Chi!" Goku yelled again tackled her down when another over-length arm reached out to her, trying to grab her leg. "GiVe Me…GiVe mE! ThE DrAgOnBaLL…MuSt HaVe…MuSt HaVe!"

"Shut up!" Goku roared and his tail twitched widely from one side to another, his eyes glimmering dangerously red in the morning-sun. "MuSt HaVe…ThE DrAgOnBaLL!"

"Run away, damn it!" Goku yelled for the last time and an animalistic sound broke out of his throat before he attacked the demon. When his fist landed on the wide sneer of the old looking thing Chichi finally got out of her trance, turned around and ran away, leaving Goku behind her. Her heart beat frantically, her sides ached and she had trouble breathing. She stumbled a few times and hit her knee on a small rock. Blood oozed out of her wound but all she could hear was Goku's voice telling her to run. So she did, ignoring the stinging pain.

When she came across a little river she stopped and glanced back. She heard a loud crash and saw birds flapping nervously away, her heart stopped. Hopefully Goku was alright? _No time to think that!_ She warned herself, assuring herself that Goku was a strong guy; he would come to her safely. Jumping into the hip-high water, the coldness of it felt like little needles prickling her skin. Crossing it in no time she dragged her tired and now wet body further away, until she hid behind a large tree with golden leaves, that stood alone in the middle of a clearing, catching her breath and calming herself down for the time being.

Now all she could do was wait for Goku. In her mind she repeated the words of the demon. It wanted the dragonball? Why? What was it with those little things? Taking the one out she carried she observed it, but found nothing special about it. It was a cold little thing, heavy in her palms. Sighing she put it back into the bag she got from Goku and leaned her head against the strong trunk and closed her eyes, while the wind rustled through the leaves.

Hopefully Goku would find her quick; she was feeling lonely already…

"Missy, what are you doing there?" the voice of a small boy suddenly took her out of her dozing off and Chichi stood up, looking for the person who spoke to her. Apparently she saw nobody and frowned. Was she hearing things already?

"Up here." The voice spoke again, playfully. And Chichi looked up into the tree, still seeing nobody.

"Where are you?"

"You're already looking at me, missy."

"But I can't see you."

"You do."

What was that boy talking about? Chichi didn't get it at all. "Are you playing hide and seek with me?"

"No." It chuckled.

"Are you one of those demons that attacked us just now?" her voice shivered and she observed her surrounding carefully, her heart at full speed again.

"You mean those evil bastards? No, I'm not like them."

"Evil bastards?"

"Yes…underlings of the king. Humans turned into demons."

"Turned…?" Chichi didn't get anything at all. This was getting weirder and weirder. _Oh Goku, where are you?_

"Yes." The boy spoke again, sounding much deeper by now, as if he matured in just seconds. "Transmitting dark blood into their veins, turning them into what they are….evil bastards."

"And…what do they want from us?"

"The thing you're carrying."

"The dragonball?"

"Yes…"

"But…why?" Chichi breathed out, feeling as if her strength left her this instant, falling on her knees and looking to the tree. "See? You look at me very clearly…" The boyish voice – now very young again – smilingly said and Chichi shockingly understood what he meant, too tired to show the surprise on her face. Exhaustion got her and she closed her eyes, feeling the dizziness overtake her. Something rustled beside her ear and she felt herself being lifted before she finally passed out.

Goku followed her scent, his left arm hanging lifelessly beside him. This demon was stronger than it looked like, hopefully Chichi was alright…

He stopped near a golden-leaved tree and narrowed his eyes. Her scent stopped here but he couldn't see her. "Chi?" He tried to call her, but he got no answer. He looked up the tree, hoping she was hiding up there, but there was nothing. "Chi?" he repeated her name but no answer was coming to him. His vision got blurry after the fight and his long run – Chichi ran quite a distance – and the dull pain in his left shoulder now got stronger as the adrenalin in his blood calmed down again.

Sagging to his knees, his face hit the green grass below him, her name rolling lazily one last time off from his lips before his eyes shut down. She disappeared, just like he feared she would…


	8. Six The tale of the lonely tree

**Six – The tale of the lonely tree**

Bulma's eyes were heavy. She was sleeping restlessly on her bed she was given involuntarily and tossed her body from one side to another. She was tormented by a nightmare over and over again. Ever since she was brought here she was dreaming it. And every morning she would wake up with tear strained cheeks, clinging to her face like a moth on a lamp.

_She is alone. It's dark and cold. Water drips on her forehead, icily. A figure appears in the distance. A figure she knows…She tries to reach out but can't get close. A scream behind her, yet another face she can place. And another face she knows very well…now two faces, looking at her desperately. Bulma stands there, torn between running back to the faces or running forward to the figure. A hand above the faces. Gone. The figure stands, looks back at her, forming words she can't understand. She reaches out again, touching cold material. Metall. Then a crash, she falls. Nothingness left and a familiar voice whispers in her ear "I'm sorry…I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" _

_Blood, a scream yet again…_

And Bulma, sweat-bathed woke up, the yell still sounding in her ear. She realized: It was her own that awoke her. Catching her breath she observed her surrounding and calmed her hammering heart down. And then, sobbing into her hands she curled her shivering body into a little ball, whispering a name that rolled very easily off of her tongue. Her lover's name…

He was gone.

Vegeta stood before her door, almost breaking his own teeth as he bit down forcefully. He had to stop his hands to slam the door open and rush to her, crash his body down on hers and show her he was still there! Showing her with movements, caresses and…words. Although he wasn't the talkative type…

"Soon…"he promised himself. "Soon there will be a way out…you just have to believe in me…" With that he turned around and walked away again. In the morning he had yet to come back to her, but then he would play his role again, and she would hate him even more than ever…

Chichi's head hurt when she opened her eyes. Touching her head with her left hand she slowly sat up and rubbed her temples. Slowly, her eyes started to see and she stopped in her movement. _Where am I? What is that?_

"Oh, you're awake!" a little voice noticed excitingly beside her and Chichi turned to look into a pale face of a little boy with golden hair framing his little face. "And you are?" Chichi wanted to know with a heavy tongue. Gosh, her body ached everywhere! From the in- and outside!

"My name's Kata. And you are?"

"Chichi…" she absentmindedly answered and looked around again. "What is that?" She wanted to know as she looked around the cave-like hollow…it looked as if she was under earth, above her were the roots of a tree, forming a cupola. _A tree?_ _Could it be…I'm under that tree?_

"This is my home!" the little boy excitedly proclaimed and extended his arms as if to show his home was very big. "How did I get here?" She wanted to know and stood up with wobbly legs.

"I took you." Kata matter-of-factly stated. "Are you hungry? I have something to eat! Do you want to play with me? It's boring alone down here…Oh! If you are searching for your bag, I took care of it, don't worry! You're really not hungry? Or do you want to sleep some more? I can show you your bed, come!" He blabbered on and on, taking Chichi with him into another "room" where there was a wide and comfortable looking bed standing. "I especially made this for you! And if you ever need something I will get it for you, alright?"

Somehow that was too much information for Chichi to handle. She stood there, not knowing what to do. So she just took the opportunity to ask the most basic thing. "How can I get to the surface again?"

Kata stopped in his little speech – Chichi didn't hear him anymore as he was talking to fast and too much at the same time – and looked at her with big eyes. "You want to leave already?" His sad face was really heart breaking…his violet eyes shimmered upset.

"I'm sorry, Kata. I have to…you know, someone's with me, I have to look for him…" With pleading eyes Chichi looked at the little boy. He nodded shortly and smiled at her. "But firstly you should sleep some more, you must be tired! It's better to search for someone when you are healthy and awake!"

Chichi smiled at his words…and although she knew he was right, finding Goku was top priority now, there was no time to sleep! "I really appreciate your concern, Kata. But I have to go as soon as possible."

"But you're tired aren't you?" Kata insisted.

"No, I'm not really…huh?" Chichi interrupted herself as the room slowly started to spin from one side to another. She suddenly had the feeling she was sitting in a rollercoaster – although she doubted those people here knew what a rollercoaster was. "See?" Kata noted and pressed her with his little hands on the bed. "You're very tired…" _Is it just me or did his voice just drop a few octaves?_

"Sleep…" And Chichi couldn't help herself but obey his command.

"Woman!" Vegeta roared down the hall before he even entered Bulma's room. Smashing the door with his boot open, it landed in the direct opposite of the room crashing down loudly. Hell, he was mad. He was mad as fire was hot. If anybody dared to say otherwise they would burn in his anger. "Come out, now!" He yelled and with narrowed eyes scanned the little area. But Bulma was nowhere to be found. Cursing under his breath he walked over to the window and looked outside.

The distance between window and ground was about seven meters. She couldn't have jumped down, she's no hybrid – unlike him – she's normal. Fragile…Where could she be? She couldn't be away long as he was hearing her scream just about five hours ago. A soldier was guarding her door, the palace complex was like a labyrinth and even her intelligent wouldn't help her through the different floors.

He had to find her, no matter what!

Bulma's breath hitched while her nerves were about to snap from too much tension. Looking around the corner she observed if anybody would be near. Seeing nothing she ran to the next save corner she could spot. It was dark down here and kind of wet. A disgusting smell met her nose and the silence was so intense, Bulma was sure she could almost see it. She didn't really know where she was, but she thought if she followed this floor she would surely come out in a place near the exit. Or so…

How she did end up in here at all wasn't that hard to explain. When she woke up last night from her nightmare she wanted to drink a glass of water. So while she drank she leaned rather exhausted against the wall and – who would have thought! – one little stone was loose and pushed itself into the wall further. It clicked and a hidden door opened. Either way she was very lucky or destiny was pretty dump in this matter. This was more than pure luck, it was more like "I don't believe this stupid think is happening right now!" It was…ridiculous! A hidden door in room…

Praying to the architect, Bulma found some candles and crawled into the hole, hoping she would be able to escape this building! And now she was here. Brushing away the sweat on her forehead she imagined how Vegeta must be angry about her missing. Well, not that it really mattered…did it? Bulma shook her head: she had to focus on a way out, and not on that bad tempered, grumpy man with his deep black eyes, intense and full of…she sighed. Full of what? Once there was more than she could describe and now? The only thing she saw was hatred…

Looking ahead again she ran to the next save corner. Finding a way out was more important now, the rest came after that!

Goku lay on something soft. Why he was laying on something soft he couldn't tell. But it smelled nice wherever he was. It smelled like…roast beef with potatoes, noodles, fresh soup, vegetables, salad and various fish…it was mouth-watering! Opening his eyes he sat up and scratched his head before he noticed he couldn't move his left arm at all. Looking rather confused he saw something white covering half of his body. He was bandaged from head to toe…

"Hey there, buddy!" a cheerful voice greeted him and a round face with absolutely no hair welcomed him. But the only thing Goku saw in the first moment where six dots, standing parallel to each other. Now he was seeing dots already? Rubbing his eyes Goku tried to re-focus but those six dots still remained. The face talked again.

"You're not looking that good, buddy, but don't you worry! I will have you on your two feet as fast as you can say 'Krillin kindly kills grumpy creatures which can crawl creepily and kill kind kids.' You're heavily hurt. What did you do?"

Goku looked at the moon-shaped face and tried to remember himself what happened. He was fighting a demon – or one of those evil bastards to be exact – and told Chichi to run…

"Chichi!" Goku yelled out loud and automatically stood up, not caring that he was butt-naked. His body trembled, his wounds hurt but he didn't care. His healing was faster than from others anyway, he just needed something to eat and he would be as good as new.

"Woah, buddy, slow down!" the baldy shouted. "You shouldn't stand up, you know! Sit down first, I will make you something to…how did you dress yourself so fast? Man! That is inhuman speed you're moving with…what are you? Are you one of those evil bastards? Damn it! Master always told me to check the people I'm helping out BEFORE I actually help them…"

"I don't really want to interrupt your monologue, but I need to go back to the place you found me at." Goku spoke in his serious "I-have-business-to-attend-to-manner". The baldy looked at him with big eyes. "You want to go back there?"

"I think I just said that, yes…" Goku was confused. Didn't he say what he wanted?

"But that place is haunted! You shouldn't go there and…Did you just eat my meal?"

"Haunted? What do you mean with haunted? I didn't eat your meal…"

"People always disappear around that strange tree. Legends say this tree is standing there since around two thousand years...hey, hey, hey! You're still chewing!"

"People disappear? Why should they disappear?" Goku ignored the "meal-question" just perfectly this time.

The baldy sighed. His food was gone already, no need to fight over it anymore. "Just as I said: Legends say this tree is standing there since around two thousand years. People say this tree is a promise between a mother and her child. The child was a bastard – having powers it shouldn't have, looking rather strange with its golden hair – and the woman was banished from her folk, wanting to keep it. Yet, both of them were chased until eventually they found her. They killed the kid right before the eyes of her mother. It died in her arms and she promised him: 'I will come back to you, I will find you…you just have to wait for me. Wait for me here, I will come back…'"

It went silence between the two of them. So it was really the tree that took Chichi. Goku nodded determined. "I have to go back there, no matter what."

The little man sighed once again. "Alright…but don't you dare push the blame on me if something happens!"

"Kata, I would really like to go now…" Chichi tried to reason for the millionth time now, but the little boy would just look at her with his big eyes, be quiet for a while and start something new he wanted to show her. He just avoided her plead. And every time Chichi became pushy he would make a very big pout and start to cry – and above all things, crying children were the worst! She couldn't handle those tears, they were just too….pitiful. So she went silent again, did what he wanted her to do until she tried her plead again. "I would really like to go now…"

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Kata finally managed to ask after rubbing his snotty nose and his tear stained face. Chichi sighed. All she ever could think about since she was sitting down here – how long was she in here anyway? – was Goku. Nothing but Goku. Was he alright? Did he found the way she was going to? Was he searching for her or was he already leaving without another thought? Did he miss her as much as she missed him? It was nervewrecking!

"Look Kata, I have someone very important to me, and I would like to find him, you know?"

"Someone important?" The boy looked as if he didn't really understand the term "important".

"Right. A special person to me, you know. Someone very dear to me. Do you have someone you don't want to miss any second?"

"A…special person to me?" Kata thought about that for a moment. "Mother…" he stated very quietly.

"So…here we are!" The baldy who named himself Krillin matter-of-factly said and pointed to the tree – from a distance. Goku looked to the enormous wooden building back to the small guy. "Why are you hiding in the shadow?"

"Oh…don't want to get to near again." He shook his head fiercely.

"But…you had to get near it when you helped me, didn't you? Why not go there again?"

"Well because at that time I didn't know that tree REALLY kidnapped people!" Krillin almost shrieked. Goku shook his head, sighed and made his way to his destination. Why in the world was he always looking for Chichi? Why in the world couldn't she just stay beside him safely? And why in the world did he feel more dead when she is gone, although he is perfectly healthy? It was very confusing to him…Confusing as he didn't want to admit the reason to himself…

"You miss your mother, Kata?" Chichi asked as she couldn't help herself and hug the boy. Burying his nose into her shoulder he nodded. "I can't remember her face, but she said I should wait for her…So I waited…Say, was I a bad kid?" He asked her with his sad eyes looking at her. Chichi smiled and ruffled his head. "No, I don't think you were."

"I don't want to be alone anymore…why won't you stay with me?"

"Kata, look, I already told you that I have to search for someone…"

"Do you love that someone?"

"I…"

Vegeta was furious. He couldn't find her at all. He couldn't, wouldn't and probably shouldn't just like Bulma wished; but he had to. He needed to! Where in the world did she go to? How was she able to escape? It was a mystery to him. He growled once again to himself when suddenly a soldier came up from behind. "Master Vegeta! The king wishes to speak to you."

"Tell him I don't have the time right now!" Vegeta roared, not wanting to talk with this idiotic pink bastard…

"But…King Freezer said it was important…he told me to say to you it has something to do with the _C-_4 Plan."

God damn it! "Alright, I will go…" And with big wide steps, Vegeta disappeared into the direction of the crown-hall, right into the arms of the king. Life really sucked right now!

Bulma breathed out exhausted when she finally got out of the castle. Unfortunately she found herself right in front of a very high cliff. Alright, who in the world constructed that building? That idiot of an architect made an escaping route right into the arms of death? Great! What now? Turn around? Not a chance! She just had to find a way! Looking right and left she decided to climb. Not a very clever idea, but it was better than nothing.

"Well then, off we go…" she whispered to herself before she grabbed for the first possible little hole in the stone-wall, only to slip away…Somehow, that was typical to happen…

"Alright! Good luck, buddy! If I can help you in any way, just tell me!" Krillin screamed from his spot to Goku who turned around with his eyebrows lifted up in wonder. "You know, Krillin, you're not very helpful at all standing over there…"

"Well, just think about it: If anything _should_ happen, I can watch it from a distance and check the situation rationally, you know! Isn't that clever?"

"Amazingly, so!" Goku held his thump up and turned to the tree, ignoring the little man behind him somewhere. This guy was funny to say at the least, but he wasn't very brave…Sighing, Goku walked around the tree hoping he would find a way inside. However this "inside" was supposed to look like. It was a tree for god's sake! After his tenth round he looked at his hands. "Well then, here goes nothing!" and with a quick and brutal punch he smashed himself a way.

Chichi was confused. Why in the world was she embarrassed in front of a little boy with a running nose who just asked her if she was in love with Goku? Alright, maybe it _was_ embarrassing to admit it to anybody, even if this somebody was a child. But suddenly saying "Yeah, I'm in love with him!"…no, she wanted Goku to know it first before she told it anybody else.

"So what?" Kata impatiently wanted to know. If Chichi hadn't known it better, he almost sounded jealous…

"Well….I don't think that…this is any of your concern…"she blushed fiercely, she felt it. Her cheeks were burning. But before Kata could make an upset remark they heard a thumb sound from above.

"What was that?" Chichi wanted to know as she asked more herself than the boy. But Kata looked above and snorted in a way, Chichi didn't know kids could do something like that. "Don't interrupt us!" He hissed and yes – his voice definitely dropped down again! It was almost terrifying to see such a boy speak with a voice like this.

"Kata?" Chichi quizzically gazed at him and then it damned her. Looking above, she stood up, a smile forming on her face. "Goku." She whispered knowingly, earning an angry look from the furious looking boy. His violet eyes were shining dangerously.

"I won't let you be taken away from me, again!" He shrieked in a voice now between high and low and lunched to the root-ceiling before he suddenly vanished, leaving Chichi completely alone. This world was definitely crazy, but she couldn't help herself and pity the poor boy, as he was just a lonely child living in complete emptiness.

"Hey, buddy! What are you doing? You just can't punch a two thousand year old magic tree, are you crazy?" it yelled from somewhere.

"As you can clearly see, I can!" Goku said between each punch only to suddenly feel a root sling around his left angle, trying to lift him up. Jumping back he looked in wonder at the now moving tree.

"See, see? Told you it would end badly!"

Goku smirked. Well, a fight against a tree. Nothing he had before; could be very interesting! And just as he was about to attack the mad thing he heard a voice he recognized immediately. "Don't hurt him…"

"Chichi?" he thought to himself, looking from right to left.

"Goku?" she asked back just as confused as him. "Do you…can you hear me?"

Chichi half whispered and Goku could hear as clear that her voice was teary. Suddenly all of his inner alarm clocks went on. Was she hurt? Was she having pains? Why was she crying? But just as he was about to question her himself, he was interrupted by a forceful slap that made him fly a few yards backwards.

Groaning, Goku stood up. That one hurt!

"Don't you dare take her away from me!" an unfamiliar voice echoed through the clearing and the tree flashed up and turned into a little boy, merely seven years old, with golden hair and violet shimmering eyes.

"So you are the small boy, waiting for you mommy to come back." Goku stated. It was not a question, it was a fact. "Listen kid, I don't want to hurt you – for Chichi's sake – but could you bring her back to me? You know…that would be really nice of you." He smiled his best smile.

"Don't wanna!", came the stubborn reply, Goku sighed. "Look here, kid. I'm not the type you can argue with, as I'm not the talkative type either. So, just do as I say and bring Chichi back to me."

"Dude, are you debating with a mere child?" Krillin suddenly stood beside him, almost startling Goku if he hadn't felt him approaching. So the mouse came out of her hole as she didn't see the cat hidden behind the dog.

"You just want to take her away! I won't give her to you! You will only leave me behind again, if I give her to you!" Kata screamed back.

Chichi was confused. She just heard Goku, didn't she? But now he wasn't responding to her at all anymore! Although she thought his name over and over again, he didn't reply to her. Did something happen? Kata's voice was the only thing she heard. He was talking _with_ somebody…that meant Goku was still alright. Or more like: he wasn't dead. But Goku wasn't the type to die so easily…was he? Chichi frowned. _Well, he is strong, but not unstoppable or immortal…_

Somehow this was really frustrating! She was sitting down here, not knowing what to do! There had to be away out! Without thinking further she suddenly did the first thing she could think of: Grabbing a chair, standing on it and trying to bury herself out of here. Tugging on the roots above her she started her desperate way of rescuing herself…

Goku's neck-hair stood up violently as he felt the boy power up. This little guy was so frustrated; he didn't control his strength anymore.

"Chichi doesn't belong to you, kid. You cannot imprison her." Goku warned with a low voice. "You have no right to decided about her."

"Nobody had the right to decide about my mother, either!" The boy roared with a suddenly deep voice. Probably the sign of the two thousand years he already waited. Looking young from the outside while being very old from the inside. "Yet they killed her!"

Goku couldn't argue back. Just like he said: he wasn't very good dealing with words.

Chichi was able to see a small light. She had no idea how long it already took her to dig into the dry earth, tugging on roots every now and then. Dirt was in her mouth, her eyes were hurting from the dust and her hands hurt. She was shaking from exhaustion and sweat dripped from her face, mixed with little drops of brown earth. It glued to her skin disgustingly…

_Almost!_ She told herself. _Almost!_

The chair she had to replace with the table and after some time she had to put the chair_ on_ the table. Her construction was wobbly, but it held so far. Yet, she still could see that she was too small to completely get through the ground above her…

He attacked. Goku didn't see it coming as his movements were so quick that it was even almost impossible for Goku himself to see him. But the boy was stronger than he looked. He really wasn't normal. Yet Goku didn't fight back. All he did was defending himself, remembering Chichi's plead not to hurt the little boy. Additionally were his previous wounds still hurting.

Krillin observed the situation from a distance – yet again. He knew the boy was stronger than he was, so it had no use interrupting the fight. Goku would manage, somehow. This guy was much stronger than the little guy was, although it wondered Krillin that he didn't fight back. He could win over him easily. Looking through the now empty clearing, he too observed the earth were the tree was standing. Roots were pulled out and looked now aimlessly into the air, the earth was especially dry, almost looking like sand. And a hand was waving fanatically from a small spot…

Wait: a hand?

From the corner of his eye Goku watched how Krillin shot to the spot the tree was standing moments ago, only to see that he was digging like a dog. The boy didn't notice anything as he was too occupied with being angry and stubborn. Wondering what he was doing, Goku turned his attention back to Kata. This had to end now, he thought.

"Sorry…" Goku mumbled as he finally got into a fighting stance and started to attack back.

Krillin dig like a maniac around the hand that waved from one side to the other. "Get me out!" came a quiet shout from underneath. "Please, get me out!"

"Move aside!" it suddenly shouted from behind and Goku landed beside Krillin, starting to dig with very big moves.

"What about the boy?" Killin wanted to know panically.

"Knocked out at the moment." Goku shortly replied and Krillin watched how the boy had difficulties to stand up again. Gulping he looked back to Goku still digging. It only took him seconds to reveal the person standing under earth, which looked now with a very dirty face and big black eyes back to him.

Gosh, it was nice to see she was alright. She smiled her adorable smile and tears dripped down her cheeks as he grabbed her awaiting hand and pulled her up, pressing her to his heart.

"Chi…" he whispered with a light sigh, only to be utterly confused when she pushed him away and ran to the boy sitting on the ground.

"Kata!" she yelled and flopped down next to him. "Is everything alright?"

Big tears were in the eyes of the boy as he refused to look into Chichi's face. "Why does everybody take away the things I like? I'm always alone…my mother promised me she would come back, but she never came back…She lied!" he suddenly yelled and cried dirtily into the air.

Hugging him close she rocked him back and forth. What a sad little lonely boy…Goku kneeled beside her and ruffled her head affectingly. Nobody should be alone to long…he knew himself how lonely it could get.

"Man, who would have thought it would end like this!" Krillin started his stupid remark and grinned just as stupid, destroying the mood just perfectly.

Chichi ignored him, as she caressed the blond hair of Kata who clutched her shirt with his little hands. "Can he come with us, Goku?" she wanted to know with her big puppy eyes. She knew it could be dangerous for the boy too, but she just couldn't leave him alone like this again.

And Goku knew he couldn't refuse her, even if he had wanted to.

"Say, can I come too?" Krillin wanted to know, and Goku sighed defeated. Now the group was getting bigger instead of smaller…good god!


	9. Seven The tale of the red moon

**Seven – The tale of the red moon**

He looked at her tranquil face as she slept right beside him, curling herself into a little ball. The little boy was lying directly beside her, one of his hands clutching the fabric on her back. Goku couldn't believe how things turned out until now, but he was just glad that she was safe again; and right beside him.

A low snoring was heard from the other direction. Krillin – apparently a monk as he said himself – was on his journey of self-finding. And due to the fact that it was his task to help the one's in need he came along. How in the world this monk should help them, Goku didn't know. Krillin was a nice and funny guy, but a coward to say at the least!

Sighing and scratching his head, Goku watched the star-filled sky, thinking about a plan. Well, to find the dragonballs was top priority but there was Bulma, too…Hopefully she was alright. Switching his gaze to Chichi again he smiled a sad smile. If only she knew what was going to await her…

To be exact, not even he himself really knew what was about to happen, he only knew what the old witch had told him. And it didn't sound that pleasant. Remembering the day she explained him the details of the legend, Goku travelled back through time…

He was seventeen, happy with his life and absolutely content that nothing in the world could go wrong if he fought hard against anything that destroyed the balance of their world. Yet, the fact that he was different somehow still was at the back of his mind. He indeed was the only one with a monkey tail and it didn't matter how often his grandpa had removed this thing, it only took one day to reappear…Goku didn't care, he was comfortable with it. And it strengthened his sense of balance.

One day he came across the old witch Baba. The reason he met her at all was only because he heard she knew secret fighting techniques he wanted to witness. It was the same motivation as always that lead him to the people he knew.

The witch had fought him, and won. And just as Goku was about to accept the fact that he was still weak she held him back, pointing at his tail. "Why do you have that?" she wanted to know.

"I always had it." He answered truthfully, why should he say otherwise?

"Come." Was all she demanded after that and he followed. He didn't have anything to do, so he just followed, confused about the fact that she asked him about his tail. Was it…bad?

They entered her house; it was as dark as it would be the following years until now. She loved the darkness he recognized. Halting, she threw him a picture right into his hands which he was catching easily. It showed three motives. First motive was showing a girl, walking a long road and seven balls with stars in them were right above her head. He knew about the dragonballs, so he moved on to the next motive.

Second motive was a man, looking directly into…the sun? He couldn't tell, it was a yellow round ball. It could have been a full moon, too. The man was showing a monkey tail…Raising his eyebrows, Goku had looked at the witch who only sipped her tea and ordered him to continue looking.

Third motive was confusing. There were many people, lying on the ground. Goku presumed they were dead. The girl from the first motive was kind of floating above them, her body glowing and marks were all over her skin. The picture wasn't as new, so Goku couldn't tell what kind of marks she was showing. The man from the second motive – who looked just like Goku himself– was bent over. He looked as if he was having pains, while another man, looking just like the first stood above him, ready to strike down. The faces of both men were twisted, they looked…unhuman.

Goku frowned and set the picture down. "What is this all about?"

"This is your destiny…" Baba stated.

"My…destiny? I don't think I get what you mean."

"You know about the 'girl of legend'?"

"You mean the story about the girl that saves our dimension? Yeah, my grandpa always told me about it. It was his favorite tale."

"It is no tale, it's real." Baba warned. "And it's going to be your mission to make it come true."

"My mission? Ah…I don't think I have time, I have to train some more. The next competition in Telia is about to begin in three months. No time to do other stuff!" Goku chirped and hopped up. Baba smashed her cup down on the table.

"Sit down."

Scratching his head, not understand why she spoke to him so harsh, he obeyed. Frowning he asked her nonverbally what this was about.

"So…you want to get stronger, right?" she suddenly changed the topic. Goku nodded in response. "I can help you." She smirked and got Goku's attention at once. He was very easily manipulated if it was about fighting…

"I can teach you everything I know, but!"

And there came the consequences. "You have to promise me to only use those techniques when protecting the girl of legend."

"What?" Goku pouted. "That's pretty unfair, don't you think? I mean…well…it's pretty unfair!"

"Don't be so whiny! It's very fair…if only you knew what I'm going to teach you. By the way: Did you ever have difficulties with your tail on full-moon nights?"

"Uh…Don't know…my grandpa always tried to cut it once a month…Told me, he wanted to try to remove it. Didn't work though."

Baba thought hard. This boy really wasn't the fast thinker. Obviously his grandpa always cut it on full-moon nights, yet he didn't recognize it. Oh well, she would train him to control his secret, although he didn't knew about it yet. "Alright, we will have to test it."

"Test what?"

"The way you behave on full-moon nights with your tail."

"Should something happen?"

"We'll see…"

Goku's thoughts about the past were interrupted by a small yawn. Looking to his side, Chichi was stretching herself while slowly waking up. Sitting up she wrinkled her nose. _I need a bath_…she thought to herself and looked at her clothes. They were covered with mud and smelled horribly.

"Hey." Came the soft welcome from her right and she smiled at Goku's gentle face. "Everything alright?" he wanted to know. Well, he always wanted to know…since she went missing all the time – he left her first! – he questioned about her well-being as often as he could.

"Yeah…I'm just a little smelly, that's all." She answered truthfully and looked around for a second. She had to remember where they were. When she recognized they were sleeping in the opening again, she sighed. "I want a bath…" she murmured.

"There is a little pond over there." Goku couldn't help but share the information. He couldn't help hearing her plea to have a bath either…

"Where?" she eagerly wanted to know. It didn't matter what it was; she just wanted to have clear water! Be it a lake, a small river or a pond! It just had to be filled with water!

"Just over there, right behind those trees where it's going slightly down, to the right of the biggest tree, through a couple of bushes. When you cross a small cave in the stone-wall left to you, you just have to turn right, near a bear-shaped rock, go further down and then you will see it." He finished his description and looked at Chichi who obviously didn't really get him.

"Over where, behind what, going where, right from what, near a what, to a bear-rock, and then?" she summarized his description again, showing him just how much she understood. Goku chuckled and scratched his head. "I can show you, if you want."

To be honest, he didn't have let her go alone either way. He would have followed her: with or without her knowing – just to make sure, of course!

"Oh, that would be great!" Chichi agreed, just happy not to have to look alone. She was sure she would lose herself in this forest. Pulling herself away without waking Kata up, she red-headed took Goku's outstretched hand and followed him quietly while her heart loudly beat to the sound of the forest…

Bulma's head hurt like hell! She noticed if she was hurting, she was still alive. Luckily. But how? Groaning she tried to sit up.

"Hello sunshine!" came a male voice, followed by a smiling face of someone she didn't know.

"Sunshine?" she asked about her nickname – and wasn't pleased to hear it. The man grinned. "Well, I know it doesn't fit your beautiful blue hair or your blue eyes I notice suddenly but I think it fits your personality perfectly!"

Oh, what a sweet-talker! Bulma rubbed her temple and looked up – somehow it was typical for those who look good to be utterly dumb. Just a stupid sweet-talker. "You don't even know my personality. Even my father used to say "Princess Darkness" when he saw me, how come you say "Sunshine"?"

The smile he got grew wider than wide. "Oh well, who knows…maybe you're a sunshine to me."

Good god! Bulma seriously considered if she should punch him or not…"So…who are you?" she wanted to know rather unfriendly, just to make sure his nickname was utterly wrong.

"Yamcha, sweetheart. But you may call me darling!"

Did he just say sweetheart? Darling? This guy left his brain somewhere! "Alright, _Yamcha_." She stressed out his name. "Thank you for helping me; I have no time whatsoever, goodbye."

"Hey, hey, easy, girl!" he held her back. "Where do you want to go, I can bring you there."

Bulma opened her mouth to tell him she wasn't a _girl_ but his question was a good one. Where should she go to? Back home? No…Vegeta would probably search for her there first. Next village? Could work but…where was she anyway? Looking up she noticed she wasn't near the palace anymore. There wasn't even any sign of life!

"Where in the world are we?" Bulma wanted to know. Yamcha shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. I'm just travelling through the land without any destination." Bulma's heart skipped a beat. "How long was I unconscious?"

"About one day, I think."

"One day?" she shrieked. In one day you could travel about 300 kilometers considering the speed they were going forward – Yamcha was traveling by horse – what meant she was – checking the position of the sun – about 286 kilometers south-south-east from the kingdom away, leading directly to the border of the land, going right to the Eastern Empire! "Gosh, I'm never coming back from there…" she sighed and slumped down.

"From where?"

"From the place you are going to! Why in the world didn't you stop travelling while waiting until I woke up, you dumbass?" she yelled at him, earning a confused look.

"Should I have done that?"

"Yes, you moron! Good-for-nothing-bastard!"

"Hey! No reason to get so cocky, miss!"

"BULMA! My name is BULMA, you stupid idiot!" She wheezed. Great! Now she had to think of a good plan! First there was Vegeta, then the contract she had to break somehow, then there were the dragonballs too and… What about Chichi? She suddenly thought. Maybe she found Goku already. But they will never find HER when she wasn't even in the land. Oh no…What did she do to deserve this?

"Uh…" Yamcha made himself clear again. "What?" Bulma snapped.

"I think we may have a problem…"

She was so going to kill him, Bulma thought as she gulped and went pale while looking at the "problem" he was talking about. This was going to be a long road.

His hand was warm. Rough, big and very warm. Chichi blushed constantly and looked at the ground, hoping the darkness would hide her face. Goku walked in front of her, firmly holding her by his side as if he was afraid she could vanish anytime soon – again.

"So…" she tried to loosen the tension inside of her by speaking first. "…how did you found this little pond? I mean…it's not really easily to find it." She joked. Goku chuckled. "It's easy to find things when you're constantly living with them. You know I…I always lift in the woods. It's not that bad if you know what you have to do to survive." He smirked.

"When you always lift in the woods…" Chichi curiously started to investigate. …" were you always alone then?" Looking up to him she tried to ignore the pressure that got stronger on her hand. His face got a little sad. And the only thing he said was: "Where here."

Looking ahead Chichi looked at a little tranquil pond, the silent sound of water splashing came to her ear. She sighed contently and hided the fact that she was upset about his "not-telling-anything-about-me-attitude". In fact, he never talked about himself at all. So, to be honest, she didn't know anything about him except the things she witnessed by herself. But about his past? Nothing.

"I will leave you alone now." He stated and turned around, but Chichi held him back. "Could you hide yourself near me, so that I can still speak with you?"

She had no idea if it was too bold of her asking him that, but she somehow really didn't want to think about him leaving her. She knew he would come back, but…they never really shared a silent moment _together._ And she….she just wanted to. He smiled at her plea and pointed to a tree. "I will sit behind that, alright?"

She nodded and watched how he let himself down on the ground, his back pressed to the tree until she couldn't see him anymore. "No peeping!" She yelled and smiled as she just saw his held up thumb.

Goku's heart raced like crazy. The sounds of fabric being peeled away from skin and pooling to the grassy ground made him feel even more nervous.

Water splashed and silence followed afterwards. It was a very calming situation and Goku thought he was contently peaceful for the first time since all of this started to happen.

"You know…" Chichi suddenly started to speak, turning his attention fully to her. "At home I never really knew why I was there at all. I mean, I loved my life, my family, my friends but it never was…enough. The only thing I was doing was going to school, learn, meet the people I knew, go home, eat, sleep and start the whole thing again the next day. You know, I just couldn't help myself that there had to be more than living a life every stupid person was living. There was nothing special about it." She made a pause, yet Goku didn't want to interrupt her sudden confession-session. He just listend to her.

"When I suddenly happened to came here I thought my life was even more horrible than before. I met a strange man who suddenly took all of the things I had basically on me." Goku smiled. "And then there suddenly came the notice I would be responsible for saving a dimension, or two. I mean…wow! Who would have thought somebody was crazy enough to let me do all of this! But you know…when I got to know just how much these people here need there heroine it made me wonder if I really should through away all of this. I…want to help them, Goku. I really want to be the girl they believe in. And although I really, really, really miss my family I want to stay here. So…promise me to never take me somewhere where I won't be able to help at all…"

Chichi looked to the direction Goku was sitting and waited for a response, yet nothing came back. She sighed and brushed the lonely tear away that escaped her eye.

"When I was a child…" Goku suddenly made noticable again. "…the only person I had was my grandpa. I never knew who my parents were, and to be honest I didn't care either. I was happy living with him. But when he died I suddenly was all alone. The house was small but it appeared to be so big. The forest we were living in wasn't as interesting as it used to be. And I started to travel from one spot to the other."

"How did your grandpa die?" Chichi wondered.

"_Something_ killed him. And I started to train in order to find and kill that _something._"

"Did you find it?"

"I did. But I wasn't able to kill it."

"Why not?"

Goku paused and Chichi heard him breath in hard. It must be hard to talk about it, Chichi guessed. Seconds after he continued with a heavy tongue.

"Baba told me it wasn't my destiny. My destiny, she said, was to protect you. So she trained me. Until now. And then you came." Silence followed afterwards and Chichi presumed Goku finished the things he wanted to talk about. It was the first time whatsoever that he talked about himself that way. Chichi brushed some tears away; she didn't notice that she started to cry at all. And while she bathed herself clean, Goku wandered back into time.

That time, when Baba said they had to check how he behaved on fullmoons. It was the baddest day he could remember. He didn't understand what she meant about "How he will behave." He thought that witch must be still mistaken, yet, in order to learn the techniques she promised him, he participated.

He wished he didn't had to do it. He wished the witch was wrong. But she wasn't. And he wished the fullmoon could vanish from the world.

He didn't knew that a fullmoon could be red.

But that night, he saw it with his very own eyes: the reddest moon, glowing like blood. And he saw the monster that killed his grandpa fifteen years ago that night when he was twelve. The monster he could never kill as it lived inside himself. The monster was him. A monster nobody but himself should see. Nobody, least at all Chichi.

The sound of the water took him back to present, and Chichi came around the corner, smiling at him, fully dressed again. Her skin shined as white as the day he saw her for the first time. Standing up he dusted his pants off and started to walk into the direction they were coming from. Chichi followed him silently until she stopped and looked up.

"What is it?" Goku wanted to know.

"We have almost fullmoon. Two days more and it should be there." She stated. Goku held his breath. "It's beautiful."

"We should go." He quickly answered and went on, without looking up. He didn't want to see it. The _thing_ he hated the most. Chichi followed him and boldly took his hand after some time, her head beet-red. He didn't look at her, but gripped her hand hard. That was enough for both of them. And just like that, it was as if they knew what the other felt. No other word was needed. It was enough.

When they came back they didn't touch each other anymore, just stood side by side. Krillin and Kata were waiting already, looking at them and questioning what they were supposed to do now. Goku took the dragonball-searcher and pushed the button. "First" he said "first, we are going to find the rest of the dragonballs."

"And after that?" Chichi wanted to know.

"We'll see."

"So we're going now?" Krillin optimistically wondered. Goku nodded and smiled. "Ha, very good! Let's get going, pals!"

And as the sun slowly started to rise, the moon vanished and the group went on to their next adventure. Little did they now what was awaiting them…

Vegeta was furious. He couldn't find her. She was gone, just like that. There were no signs of her. Nowhere. She wasn't in her home. She wasn't near the palast. She wasn't in the palast. She was…gone. Just like that. No trace left.

"Vegeta?" A soldier stood beside him.

"What." Came the tired response.

"The king wishes to see you. He said it's time." Closing his eyes, Vegeta breathed heavily. That bastard just couldn't wait. Damn it! With wide steps he made his way to the person he hated the most.

"You called?"

"I did, indeed." It came from a dark spot where the throne was located. "I think it's time."

"It's utterly soon for it, isn't it?" Vegeta ridiculed him and earned a hard punch into his face.

"When I say it's time, it's time. Did you get that?"

"I got that…" Vegeta hissed while spitting blood on the ground.

"Good. Then let them out."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

Growling Vegeta turned around and left the room. He had to get out of here. Grabing the first soldier he saw, he yelled at him to get _them_ out. Leaving for his quarters he thought about Bulma. He had to find her, no matter what. Just when she's beside him he had the possibility to protect her. That, or she would be dead. The dragonball inside of his pocket was cold when he grabbed it. Cursing the ball he let go if it again, turned around and rushed to his dragon. He had to do something himself.


	10. Eight The tale of the familiar stranger

**Eight – The tale of the familiar stranger **

"That was quite problematic, wasn't it?" Yamcha laughingly said and dusted himself off. Bulma shot him a death glare.

"Problematic? Problematic? We're in a damn cell, you complete moron!" Great, just great! She stumbled from one prison to another. It just had to happen that they came across some bandits who captured them and now there found their selves in a stupid cell in the ground those bandits obviously made. And on top of that, the hole was quite deep too. "How should we get out of here, huh? We're near the border; about five hundred meters east and we would be safe. I know that a city's coming. If we're lucky, we could get there, but first we have to get out of here…" Bulma mumbled all the while to herself. Yamcha looked at her puzzled. What was she talking about?

Walking from one wall to another she analyzed the earth hoping she would find something that would help them. It was going to be a long day…

About three hours later, she still was digging the earth, while Yamcha was snoring loudly. Bulma shook her head and sighed. This idiot was a good for nothing fellow. When they saw the bandits surrounding them, that guy just lifted his arms and said "I'm all yours, do what you want!"

Cursing under her breath, Bulma just kept on digging. She hoped the root she found would go up to where she hoped it would go. The hole was near a tree. A very high tree. Considering the thickness of the trunk it was possible to climb up to the surface. And that was what Bulma was hoping for…

Every now and then a bandit would come and check on them, but lucky the hole was deep and dark, they couldn't see what happened down there. Bulma tried to listen to their drunken conversation and when someone yelled "check on them!" she pretended to be asleep, only to dig the earth again as soon as the bandit went away. Her fingers hurt, and her nails where as black as the night. A bath was the first thing she would ask for if she was out of here, she promised herself! But before that, she had to get out here…

They were surrounded. Chichi was in the middle of the group, frightened to no end and clutched the bag she was holding. There, already two dragonballs were resting in. They found the second one in an empty cave. They were lucky this time. But when Chichi had to touch it again, she threw a tantrum. She just didn't want to make the same experience once again. The first time was worse enough! But while she protested and wanted to leave the cave, she stumbled over her own feet. And Goku, being very sneaky sometimes, caught her, and in the process, pressed the dragonball into her palm.

And then: It went hot, the ball started to glow and Chichi curled herself into a ball on her own until the pain subsided and she could stand up again. When Goku wanted to help her up, she just slapped his hand away and hissed at him with tears in her eyes. That one hurt deeply. She hated what those things were doing to her. And every time it happened she was exhausted the whole day afterwards. But now, she gladly accepted his help, as they were surrounded by six evil bastards, who with red gleaming eyes fixated her and the bag she was carrying. Well, they more looked at the bag then at her…

"GiVe It!" they whispered all the time with cracking voices. Their faces were grimaces. They looked even more disgusting than the first one Chichi met not long ago. One had six arms, another had the lower body of a snake, the third had teeth as hard as granite; it looked as if his face was a mixture of a human and a shark, the forth was just….monstrous. He was big and looked like a monkey. More like a gorilla, with bad teeth; they were pitch black. The fifth looked normal, yet inhuman. And the sixth was covered with bandages. Somehow it looked as if he only was able to be in one peace with them on. All in all, they were not the pretty type…

"Stay close to us." Goku whispered to her and Chichi nodded her head fanatically. She wouldn't leave them even if her life depended on it!

"YoU HaVe WhAt We WaNt! YoU HaVe….YoU HaVe…"

"Man, is that all they can say?" Krillin wondered jokingly but one could feel how tensed up he was inside. The situation was not good looking. Kata on the other hand was pretty calm. Could be, because anyone was unable to kill him as he only was a spirit in an already dead body. He was able to materialize himself over and over again. Yet again, pain he could still feel. Chichi sweated and her eyes searched for Goku's figure. He looked determined, his concentration seemed like it was on anything and everything. Gulping, Chichi tried to slow down her breathing. The situation got worse by the minute, she thought.

"AtTaCk tHeM! AtTaCk!" The one with his bandages yelled suddenly and then it happened so fast, Chichi had trouble to understand just one thing. The shark-man screamed and lunched himself at the group. Krillin took him over and dodged his attack while the one with his snake-body directly came to Chichi. She only was able to see his tail. Fortunately Kata was quicker than the snake, grabbed its tail and threw it into the next tree. With a loud crash the wood cracked and the only thing left of the snake were two body-parts. Disgusted, Chichi turned her head away. Goku was fighting the gorilla. Somehow he took what resembled himself – even if it was just a tiny bit. Their fighting screams echoed through the woods and made Chichi shiver.

One by one the group was able to knock them out but they started to get exhausted! They didn't recognize how fast time was flying by, but they were almost fighting for about two to three hours. Chichi tried to hide herself behind a tree, kneeled down and made herself small. With no luck. They saw her. It was as if they could smell her, those creatures found out where she was only seconds after she thought she was hiding well enough! Cursing she decided to stay where she was, the bag still pressing against her form. Goku slightly panted as he still was fighting that stupid gorilla guy. To make things worse, that bandage guy attacked him too. And that one obviously was pretty strong. All in all, all of them were stronger than the first one. What in the world was happening?

"Damn it, why can't we defeat them properly?" Krillin panted frustrated. "It shouldn't be so hard to just get rid of them!"

"It seems…" started Kata while he dodged the shark-man. "...that these here are not the ones we knew. They are a lot more intelligent, not to mention stronger. They have a tactic, either way they couldn't work together like that."

"I agree with that. Those guys are particularly making us tired so that they are having a light match! I mean, look at that! Three against six! What's fair in that?"

"Five." Kata repeated. "The snake is already dead."

"Whatever. Then five…" Krillin muttered and earned a blow from the guy with his six arms.

Goku had part of his concentration all the while on Chichi, controlling her safety. He was having trouble observing all at once, but he managed – as always. He felt her fear and gritted his teeth. He had hoped he didn't have to show her his true color, but he guessed there was no other way now. If he wouldn't do what he didn't want to do, they would stand no chance against those evil bastards. They were just too many. Growling he started to bellow some orders to Kata and Krillin.

"Get them into a group and watch out that nobody leaves the radius they should stay in!"

"Got that!" Krillin and Kata yelled in unison. With that they started to encircle them and attacked them in a certain way, so that those evil beings were together. Goku stepped back and stood just right before Chichi, who looked up at him with big eyes. _What does he want to do? I don't know but I think it should end this here…I'm scared, I don't care anymore just make them disappear!_

"Close your eyes and don't move." Goku whispered to her without turning around. Chichi nodded and pressed her eyelids together, clutching the bag to her heart. Breathing out deeply to calm himself, Goku got into a certain fighting stance, his hands forming a C slightly behind him.

"Ka…" he slowly started to say, his eyes focusing on Krillin and Kata trying to held the creatures in place.

"Me…" A small light appeared in between his palms, radiating cold warmth. Chichi curiously cracked one eye open to look what was happening. Gasping she put a hand over her mouth. She never saw something like that.

"Ha…" Krillin felt energy rising and looked with his eyes to Goku who stayed there in a funny way. Yet, without a doubt the energy was coming from him. Smelling the strong attack he was forming, Krillin slightly sweated. They should get out of here, as soon as possible!

"Me…" Kata looked at Krillin and nodded as if he understood what Krillin just thought about getting away quickly. Now was the best time. Bringing them close once again, Krillin and Kata attacked the evil bastards one last time, then got away just in time. The glowing ball between Goku's palms was as big as a football by now, Chichi noticed with amazement and fear. She had an urge to touch it, but she said to herself it would be better to leave it alone…

"HA!" Goku suddenly screamed and brought his hands forward, the ball suddenly flying towards the creatures which looked at the energy-attack like it was some kind of firework. They didn't knew what happened until it hit them. Being engulfed in the strange light, they cried out in agony. Chichi watched frightened at the scene. The only thing she saw were the shadows, but it was enough to tell her what Goku's attack was doing to them. The sound of flesh being torn was heard, it sounded squishy as in the contrary the bones being broken sounded horribly disgusting.

And then slowly, the light faded away and all that was left was a bloody mark on the ground. Chichi couldn't help herself but look at the spot and then at Goku. To think what _he_ was the one who did that…Turning around, Goku found Chichi looking at him in horror and shock. He sighed inwardly, hurt by the look she was giving him. He knew something like this would happen, and he hated the fact. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his heart he reached down to her, wanting to help her up. But as soon as he dared to touch her, Chichi flinched automatically. Wincing at her reaction, Goku balled his hand into a fist and muttered a sorry, his eyes looking another direction. He couldn't handle her shocked expression hated himself at that moment.

Krillin sighed heavenward and whipped the sweat on his forehead away, smiling a little. "Man, that was something…" Turning to Goku he patted his back. "Do me a favor and don't wait to finish this that quickly the next time, dude! I thought seriously they got us there…unbelievable!"

Goku smiled at him, although it looked quite forced. "I will keep it in mind!"

Kata was already turning his attention to Chichi as he just grabber her arm gently and helped her up – as good as he could considering their height difference. She couldn't stop staring at the bloody ground and back to Goku. It really was him. Well, she was lucky that it killed those…things, but to think she actually wanted to touch the energy ball! Good god, Goku would have killed her, literally…She didn't want to tell it to him. She was just so amazed about the things he could do with his hands, she couldn't believe it. When he was about to touch her with said hand, she flinched because she still could feel the power within them, it made her skin prickle. It felt…exciting. Blushing about her thought she kept her head down and watched her feet. "Everything alright?" Kata asked her, now back in his boyish manner. Chichi smiled at her and nodded in response. _No need to freak out, Chichi. You are still alive, and so are the others. _

Goku watched her sigh. Was she that shocked about what he had done? She didn't even want to look at him. It made him kind of grumpy to think that she took the help of Kata but not of him…

"Let's keep on going." Goku said to the group and they wandered forward again, Goku leading them through the ending day, his focus entirely on Chichi as she walked right behind them. He needed to ignore it, he said to himself. Those feelings were not allowed, as it was only natural for him to have this power – although it nagged on him that Chichi would be afraid of him just because of that fact. Ignore it, he said to himself. Just ignore it.

"I did it!" Bulma silently beamed at her finished work, trying to forget the pain in her hands. She finally had the root inside of her hands and tears of joy were lingering in her eyes. Thank goodness, she did it! Yamcha, yawning as he woke up, rubbed his eyes and focused them on Bulma, a frown covering his face. "What are you doing there?"

"Shh!" she hissed at him. "Shut your trap, I'm going to get us out of here!"

"Huh? You what? How?" He wanted to know as he scratched the back of his head.

"Here." She showed him the root. "If we climb this thing up – slowly and without any noise – we can run away. If I'm not mistaken your horse is still alive and about…" she watched the stars thinking hard. "…about five feet east from here."

"How do you know?"

"I'm a genius after all, of course I know!" She barked at him. "And now, keep quiet, I will go first. Luckily this wall is west, so it's going to be in the dark if the sun is setting…" That said, she started to climb up. This was harder than she believed…

Chichi gathered up her courage and decided to go to Goku and tell him she was sorry. Well, he wouldn't really know why she apologized at all, but she just was ashamed of the fact that she wanted to touch this thing he created without knowing what it meant. It was careless and would have hindered the whole attack! Him knowing or not, she had to apologize! "Goku!" she stared to say as she run to his side, only to be met by his hand stopping right before her mouth. "Shh!" he ordered her, looking up tensed.

"What is it?" She whispered, noticing that Krillin and Kata were looking up too.

"You feel it?" Krillin wanted to know and Goku nodded, finally setting his hand back in place. Chichi was confused. "Feel what?" she wanted to know but they couldn't hear her as a strong wind was taking her words away from them before they could hear her. Her hair was flying around nervously and as she tried to bring it back to where it belonged a loud scream filled their ears.

All of it happened so fast, Chichi only remembered the way she tried to reach out for Goku as something grabbed her from behind and lifter her up into the air quickly. She noticed the shocked expressions from the others as well and how Goku intuitively reached out for her too, but there was nothing that could be done as she was getting away from them more and more.

"Goku!" She yelled the name she always thought of, but her scream was being taken away by the wind. Goku gritted his teeth and anger rushed through him. Too many problems on only one day, he thought to himself! "Wait here!" He bellowed to the others who stood there as if lightning just shout through them. They couldn't move even one muscle as they watched Goku suddenly lift himself into the air and flew after the giant bird monster. Chichi's name was the only thought he had.

It didn't take him long until the bird and Chichi were in sight again. Screaming her name he took her attention. Reaching out her arms as good as she could as she was trapped inside those claws, she cried Goku's name desperately as he got nearer and nearer. He slightly brushed her fingertips before the bird noticed Goku and made a maneuver to escape the monkey-man. Goku, cursing under his breath followed him, trying to take Chichi into his arms again. It was a nerve-racking cat and mouse play.

_Oh please, just let this end!_ Chichi thought half crying as suddenly the bird – not noticing what was before it as Goku followed almost fanatically, crashed into a high stone wall, taking Chichi with it into the depth. Her cry lasted till the bird landed with a loud sound on the ground, unmoving. Goku's heart stopped. He wasn't fast enough to catch the situation, as the bird was too heavy to fall slowly to the ground. If something bad happened to Chichi he would kill himself!

Rushing down he searched for the claws of the bird. They were open and no Chichi was near. His breathing stopped as he desperately searched for her. "Chichi!" he yelled. "Chichi answer me!"

"I'm here!" her voice sounded from somewhere. "I'm here, Goku! Help me! I think I'm…I'm stuck! I can't move my feet…"

"Wait, I will come to you!" he shouted while he rushed towards the place she was screaming from. When he saw here he ignored the shock that crept from within himself. Chichi lied under a pile of loose rocks, her upper body free while her lower part was hidden under them. Her hair was tangled and her face was dirty and had cuts here and there. When he kneeled before her, he brushed her cheek and freed her from the dirt while his eyes always went back to the heavy stones. "Don't worry, I will get you out of here!" he assured her as she got rid of the first stone only to be met by Chichi's cry of agony. "Chi! Are you alright? Did that one hurt?"

"Don't worry, just keep going." She wheezed and gritted her teeth as Goku took away the remaining rocks. When she was finally free, she breathed out and closed her eyes at the sudden exhaustion she felt. "Thank you…" she whispered as she felt Goku's hand brushing the top of her head. "Don't worry, I will take you back, Krillin can help you."

"Do you know why the bird did that?" Chichi wanted to know while she tried to look at him. He shook his head no. "I have no idea. Those birds are known for being very shy and friendly."

"Could it be it was an…evil bastard?" He thought about that. "Maybe. If so, we should get away as soon as possible." That being said he positioned himself to help up Chichi without hurting her too much as a stomping sound was heard.

"WhErE Do YoU ThInK yOu ArE GoInG?" the bird asked in a strange voice Goku's blood froz inside of his veins. So it was an evil bastard after all but how could that be possible?

"What are you?" he wanted to know, bringing his body before Chichi protectively.

"I Am InSiDe ThE BiRd, So WhAt Do YoU tHiNk I aM?"

"A spirit? A ghost? A shapeshifter?" Goku sarcastically counted. Hell, he had no idea what this was! The only thing he knew was that Chichi needed some medical treatment, now!

"I aM A PoSsEsSoR. I CaN Be In aNyThInG I WaNt tO bE!"

"And let me guess: you want the dragonballs?"

"ExAcTelY!"

"Well then, show me what you've got!" Goku said between clenched teeth, going into fighting stance. He wasn't absolutely keen about this whole situation! Today was just not his day, he thought as he attacked the bird by grabbing it at its tail and throwing it away as far as possible. The bird stopped midair by slowing the fall with its large wings and met Goku halfway with a glowing ball it shot suddenly through its mouth. It hit Goku right in the middle of his chest and he disappeared into the next stone wall he met…

Chichi wheezed in pain as she tried to move her body. It just hurt too much. Watching how Goku fought that monstrous demon-like bird she tried to flee – without much success. Her body was too greatly damaged. The night already had fallen upon them, making the air cooler and the sandy ground colder. Her body started to shiver as she looked up and followed with her eyes the light the round yellow moon radiated. She always loved the moon, but today it scared her deeply…it was as if it shone directly to the place where Goku was lying.

Chichi searched him with her eyes fanatically. But all she could see was _something_ standing in the light, its tail was twitching, its fur was standing to the sky and its teeth and red eyes glimmered darkly into the night. It licked its claws and chuckled lightly as it watched the bird go still in shock. "I will kill you know…" it snickered and in seconds – it happened so fast, Chichi didn't know what happened at all – the head of the bird came off with a loud crash and blood floated the ground like a river.

Chichi watched with horror in her eyes when the strange demon suddenly stood right before her, its eyes fixated on her. He looked at her as if she was something dirty. But the remarkable hairs of it made painfully clear to Chichi just who was standing before her. "G-Goku?" she stammered. "Is that really you?"

He didn't answer her as he just gazed down, his tail going from one side to the other. She tried to call his name again, but he ignored her perfectly. He looked up at the moon which shimmered in a red light down at him. Without another word he turned around and walked away, leaving Chichi alone, unable to move.

"No-no…NO!" She yelled and he stopped for a second, only to walk away again. "I said no! You stop right there! Don't even think about leaving me! Hear me? DON'T YOU DARE GO AWAY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes pressed closed as tears covered her cheeks.

"Who do you think you are to order me?" Goku's voice asked directly before her and Chichi opened her eyes only to see him kneeling before her. Clutching the fabric of his trousers, Chichi tried to hold him here. "I'm not ordering you…" she huffed.

"Let go." His cold voice said, but Chichi's grip only hardened. "NO!" She yelled at him determined. "I will not let go of you! Not a second time! You left me once, I will not allow you to leave me twice, hear me Goku? I Will Not Allow It!" her tears fell freely to the ground. "Don't do that to me…I don't want to be separated anymore!" She tried to push her body up to his face level with her last strength, as Goku's demon-like face kept being cold and uninterested. When she finally reached it, she gazed into his red eyes while her last tears rolled down her cheeks. "Don't leave me here…" she felt her strength leaving her as the world started to get dizzy around her.

And without another thought she pressed her lips firmly against his cold ones for a second and went limp only to whisper the words she didn't knew she could ever say to anyone: "I love you…"

Then her world went dark.


	11. Nine The tale of the hidden village

**Nine – The tale of the hidden village**

He walked away. His back was becoming smaller and smaller and either way how much she screamed for him, he just kept on walking. It didn't matter either how fast she was running after him, she was just unable to catch him. He was…too fast. She saw her hand reaching out for him, but the only thing she saw next was complete blackness as she stood in the middle in nothing, alone, one name coming from her lips in a loud scream.

Someone touched her hand and grabbed it gently, pressing her fingers tenderly. "Shh, alright. I'm here." a voice whispered low. "I'm here, Chi. No need to be afraid."

Chichi's eyes stayed close until she found the strength to open them. Her vision was blurry but the familiar depth of those eyes looking at her made her heart skip a beat. "Goku…" she murmured and felt the pressure on her hand increase while another brushed over her head.

"Hey…" he smiled lovingly and earned a breathtaking – although tired – smile from the one who had saved him. She had saved him from the monster that lived within. A monster she was willing to accept. When she told him, she loved him he was speechless and happy and afraid and overjoyed and desperate and hopeful…it was a whirlwind of emotions inside of him. And it saved him from losing his mind.

"You're here, that's good…that's good…" she smiled and a tear rolled down her cheek. She was just so happy to have him still near her, she even forgot the pain she felt from her injuries.

"I'm here." He assured her once again before he tried to get away from her, telling her to sleep some more, she was hurt badly. Her eyes flew open again and a desperate look grazed her face and she grabbed his hand holding it. "Stay." She demanded and made him almost topple over. It went silent for a second and the only thing they heard was Krillin's loud snoring.

Sighing almost inaudible Goku made himself comfortable beside her, still holding her hand. "Chi, I'm sorry you had to see that…" he suddenly whispered, feeling ashamed of what he actually was. She smiled at him and snuggled as well as she could into him before she closed her eyes again and immediately drifted off to sleep before she could say what she wanted. Goku was troubled for a moment. He liked watching her tranquil face but…she didn't react to what he said to her.

And…Did she really say she loved him?

Why did she say that? What kind of love did she meant?

How could she even think about loving a monster like him?

And why was it that it wasn't allowed for him to say the same thing to her although he wished for it so badly?

Leaning his forehead against hers he whispered something into her ear that made Chichi smile daringly.

That night Chichi had the most beautiful dream caressing her sleep…

Vegeta was angry. He was more than angry! He was absolutely furious and tired! He looked for Bulma through the whole western empire but couldn't find even one clue. He stood at the beginning! He just stood at the damn beginning! Cursing under his breath he ordered his dragon to lift himself up into the air. He just had to look for her once again all over the place!

The only thing that would have taken his interest if he weren't occupied with finding Bulma were some bandits near the border to the Eastern Empire who were walking around like maniacs screaming and fighting each other in frustration. They looked funny in a way…And Vegeta seriously considered killing those guys for some kind of stress relieve, but did otherwise. He had no time for such bunch of idiots. He would get them sooner or later anyway…

He even ignored the fact that the dragonball in his pocket started to get hot at some point where he flew. He knew that it had to do with the girl of legend, but even that he ignored perfectly. No time for other things, the girl was only second to Bulma – a phenomena very mysteriously, considering that Vegeta was a cold, fighting being with no emotions whatsoever…well, he made people believe that was the way he was. Most of it wasn't even a lie, but as soon as it came down to Bulma he had the urge to change his personality 180°.

And he just needed her, more than in just one way…

"You…are….an idiot!" Bulma wheezed and earned a puppy look from her fellow. Both of them out of breath and just about to topple over. With small bleeding wounds here and there both of them actually made it into the eastern empire – unbelievably enough – just to get caught by the soldiers in the first city they crossed. What on earth did Bulma do to deserve this? Yes, she was safe for now because no one would find her here but…she was going from one disaster to another!

"But we needed something to eat!" Yamcha tried to excuse his doing while he leaned against the stony wall of the prison they were standing in at the moment.

"Did you ever think of paying for it? Maybe I was in deed having some coins!"

"You…you have?"

"I had, yes! Unfortunately they thought I stole them! Now we have nothing left!" Tired and near tears Bulma slid down to sit down as well. Her legs couldn't hold the weight on her shoulders anymore. Just one hope was holding her spirit up: Vegeta couldn't find her in here…But at some point she wished he would. Oh, this was so damn complicated to her! And she was a genius after all!

"Are you feeling alright?" Kata asked for the hundredth time now and Chichi just huffed. "I'm feeling perfectly find, Kata. Could you…just stop asking me? It's kind of getting on my nerves!"

"Hey, hey, no need to be so strict, Chichi. You should calm yourself down so your spirit can heal your wounds."

"Krillin, I have no need to hear your monk-like speech at all! Just look ahead and walk on!"

"Stingy woman…" Krillin whispered but before Chichi could say anything more Goku smiled and yelled in his boyish way. "Isn't it a beautiful weather today?"

"We are in a forest, Goku. We can't really see the sky. We just know it isn't raining." Chichi answered him but mysteriously her voice was much softer than moments before. Kata and Krillin looked at each other in confusion. Must be something they didn't understand...

Leaning her head against Goku's back she felt his warmth caressing her. The strong arms holding her up were so comfortable, she just wanted to drift off to sleep again. But she wanted to witness the fact that he was holding her so close, so she forbid herself to sleep. And therefore she was…very temperamental for the time being.

Krillin walked next to Goku and patted his shoulder. "What did you do to calm the beast?" And before Goku could answer anything a fist landed on Krillin's head in addition to a whining Chichi in pain who said thought her teeth "I can perfectly hear you!"

"Yeah, unfortunately…" and he earned another hit.

But although under all the smiles the group shared, they totally couldn't feel the sudden cold overcoming them, as they got further and further into the forest. It was getting darker and darker, and sharp eyes were looking from anywhere. Something was amiss, and Kata was the first to notice, as a cold shiver went through his body.

Standing still he rubbed his shoulders while the rest walked on.

"What's wrong, Kata? Come on!" Krillin yelled from afar and Kata looked with fearful eyes at him.

"I can't move…" he whispered over and over again. "I can't move…"

Goku, suddenly getting the serious situation, sat the now sleeping Chichi gently down and tried to feel the atmosphere. Why was it that there were problems around every corner? It was as if too much of those evil bastards were around…something ominous started to move.

"Hmm?" Chichi questioned while she rubbed her sleepy eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Shh…" Goku put his finger on his lips while he felt the hair on his neck standing up. "Kata, come here." He said with a deeper voice than he normally got and looked at the golden haired boy. Kata only shook his head and crutched down to the forest-ground. "I can't…" he whispered. "I can't…"

"Kata, what's wrong? Come to us!" Chichi demanded with a shaky voice. She was afraid, her body was numb, but she couldn't tell if it was because of her injuries or because of her fear. It just didn't feel natural at all. Krillin looked concentrated. "There are too much."

"Too much of what?" Chichi whispered, unsure of what to think.

"Shit…" Goku cursed, his body shivering at the tension. Every move of them now could kill them…

"Stay still." Krillin ordered them, put his fingers in front of him in a strange way and his lips moved so fast when he chanted his mantra, Chichi couldn't even hear one word clearly. When he finished speaking he made some more movements and suddenly held them in a special way. "This should help for a moment." He pressed out, while sweat was already rolling down his forehead.

"What did you do?" Goku wanted to know. It was the first time for him too, to see something like this.

"A protection spell. They should be unable to see us for now. We have to move fast, I'm only able to hold this shield for about fifteen minutes." Krillin had trouble speaking. This must be really exhausting.

"I don't get it, what's going on here?" Chichi was so afraid by now, her body was tensing up until everything hurt. The wounds on her legs were re-opening and Goku's mind was seeing red now. "Then let's move quickly." He said, grabbed Kata on his collar, took Chichi as gently as he could onto his other arm, and his tail took Krillin around his torso. "Up we go!" he said before he lifted all of them into the air and flew out of the forest.

"What in the world!" Krillin yelled and almost forgot to hold the protection spell as he earned a refreshing laugh from Goku.  
"Are-are you strong enough to hold us all?" Chichi's eyes were somewhere between admiration, surprise and pride. God, this man was a mystery from the top of his head to his little toe! Kata just looked like….yeah he looked like his age: his eyes were so big; he looked as if he couldn't understand what he was seeing.

"Ah, I can't hold it any longer!" Krillin suddenly huffed and went limp in Goku's tail. He was sweating unstoppably but smiled in an exhausted way.

"You did well." Chichi said and patted Krillin's head like a little puppy, who looked just as confused as ever. Would he ever understand this woman? Probably…not.

Bulma was half sleeping when the door to her cell was suddenly opened. "Oh my goodness, they look awful!" a small voice was whispering before Bulma could open her eyes. She saw a small blond girl covering over the snoring Yamcha. "Such a handsome fellow in a cell….horrible."

What in the world was handsome on him? Bulma thought before she had to cough and the blond girl turned to her. "Oh you're awake! Are you alright?"

"How could I?" Bulma snapped at the girl. "It's filthy in here, I smell, my hair needs some shampoo, I'm stuck with this idiotic guy since about one week, my feet hurt, I walked about 300 miles and you have the nerve to ask if I was alright?!"

"Well I'm sorry…" the blond girl pouted and Bulma had a bad feeling immediately. Her temper was going against the wrong person. The girl wasn't at fault at all. She sighed: "Listen. I'm really annoyed right now…sorry for yelling at you, but I'm really tired and hadn't had something to eat for about five days."  
"Oh, if it's something to eat, I can help. Follow me upstairs, I'm going to get you something." And the blond girl walked out of the cell. Bulma and Yamcha were looking at each other in confusion and Bulma ran after her first. "Sorry, you take us out of the cell? Just like that? But I thought we were prisoners?"

The blond girl stopped and turned around. "I scolded my father for getting you in here, because I saw everything with my own eyes. You were about to pay for the things you ate. Is saw you being pulled away screaming, although I didn't saw who pulled you exactly."  
Bulma's burning eyes went to Yamcha who did as if he wouldn't hear.  
"So I talked with my father and told him what I saw. And after some time he believed me. In addition: it is rare for strangers from the West Empire to enter the land of the East Empire. My father believes you are in need of help?"

"Who is your father exactly?"  
"He's the king of this land."

Bulma couldn't believe what she heard. She was about to get shelter? From the king of the East Empire? Goodness, the world was still fair?

"And my name is Lunch, princess of the eastern empire, first daughter of king Luxor. Nice to meet you." She bowed beautifully and her long blond hair fell from her shoulders.

"How many dragonballs do we have?" Krillin suddenly asked the troop as they sat around the fire and rested for the night. "Two." Was the answer of Goku who looked into the flames with an empty look.

"No, one." Chichi looked at him in confusion and showed him the four-star which she got from Zero that time.  
"Two." Goku repeated and showed the group the radar he got from Bulma. A point was blinking on it, not far away from their position. "I know where it is. Shouldn't be bad to get it, I will go alone." Goku stated and stood up. Chichi grabbed his leg on instinct and looked at him with big fearful eyes. He smiled down at her. "No worry, I will be back in a few hours."  
"Promise?" she asked and showed him his pinky for him to make it clear. Although he didn't understand why she showed him his little finger he just nodded and suddenly flew off.

Krillin and Kata were sleeping already when Goku softly landed beside them. Chichi stood up as fast as she could, ignoring the slight pain she still felt and hugged him breathless. His face was dirty and bloody, but she noticed in relief that it wasn't his own. Grinning he showed her the still stony round dragonball which pulsated a bit as Chichi got near it. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't like it at all. The hot feeling it made her feel wasn't really comfortable. Goku watched her with his eyebrows hooked as she didn't touch it. Looking back to the sleeping two, she took Goku by his hand and walked with him a few meters.  
"I don't want them to see this." She muttered her sorry as she slowly started to grab for the ball. And as soon as she felt it between her fingers, the ball started to get very hot. It felt like it wanted to burn her fingers away. It was even worse than the other time, but she wanted to stay strong!  
Goku watched with worry and amazement as Chichi clutched the glowing ball between her hands. Her face was twisted in pain and he once again hated the fact that she had to endure this burden.  
Like an explosion the ball glue in a bright white and then it went dark again as soon as it was bright and Chichi sank to the ground, exhausted. She didn't want to think about the fact that she had to do this gain. Five times….

Opening her palms she showed him the ball with seven stars in it. Without saying even one word he just looked at her face and brushed the sweat away that stood on her forehead. She was blushing a bright red and felt her heart bumping wildly. Since she had told him, she loved him she really wasn't able to stop this feeling anymore. And it made her….feet go wobbly. Luckily she was sitting already. But it upset her unbelievably as she didn't know what he was feeling. So caressing her like that with this look – she didn't know if he loved her like she loved him or if he just liked her like a sister. Something he had to protect.  
Suddenly feeling very blue she pushed the dragonball into his chest and stood up. "Let's go back." Was the only thing she said and Goku watched her with his fists clutched. He had hurt her, he knew. But he wouldn't allow himself say what he wanted to say to her. He punished himself by not telling her. He felt like an idiot, but he couldn't stop it. It was illogical. But that is just how he was.

Bulma lay in big bed, feeling as comfortable as ever. She really was in the king's care. She still couldn't believe it, but it was true. She told about the situation she was in – well, almost everything but not really – and the king was giving her shelter. He also told her, that he didn't like the political situation the western empire was in at all. The old king dying suddenly, the crown taken away from the prince, the empire falling apart, those evil bastards suddenly showing up. King Luxor was afraid of his own land. What if it went out of control and his people were being attacked too?  
"Oh, if this tale of the legendary girl could be true, I wished for her to appear right away…" he smiled sadly before Bulma was allowed to leave to rest.  
"The crown taken away from the prince, eh?" she muttered to herself before she closed her eyes and cried herself into sleep.

"You think they're alive?"  
"Of course, they're breathing…"

"What are they doing here? They shouldn't have been able to find us."

"Well…yet they are here. Two guys, a girl and a little boy. What a weird group…"

"Uh…wait. I only see one guy, Where's the other?"

"Alright, who are you and why are you spying on us!" Goku yelled angrily and the others woke up immediately. Goku was holding two young men up on their shirts who tried to wiggle themselves free from his grip.

"Wait, wait!" one of them yelled. "We weren't spying on you!"

"Let them down Goku, they aren't bad boys. They just wanted to look." A familiar voice suddenly came from behind and the group looked at the old wrinkled face from the witch Baba.

"Ah!" Chichi yelled as she recognized this face and pointed with one finger at her. "The old dragon!"

"Watch what you are saying!" the old woman shouted and almost fell from her flying glass-ball. "calling me an old dragon…impudence!"

"Baba." Goku talked to her in his serious voice. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Let us explain this!" one of the two guys suddenly yelled and they stood beside each other, with a big grin in their faces. Just now Chichi saw that they were twins. "Welcome to our little hidden village! The place full of willing fighters against the rule of Freezer! We're here in order to help the legendary girl and her protector to save the world and the dimensions!"

Everybody looked in disbelief at each other, to the twins and then to the witch. Goku wasn't happy to hear this at all. More people in this meant more deaths. How could Baba do something like this?

"Stop looking at me like this!" she said as she somehow read his gaze on her. "Your time is running away, you took too long. When was it that I last saw you? Three months ago? And what are you doing? You just found two dragonballs! Don't be blind Goku, the time is drawing nearer! I was just helping out a little. Don't let yourself be stopped because of everything that happened. I told you, destiny is making it's way. And all you can do is focus on your task! Stop trying to change everything, you can't do that."

Goku couldn't respond to that. So he just clutched his fists and looked rather frustrated. Chichi touched the back of his hand and looked worriedly at him. She just understood half, but she felt he didn't feel well. "Now come." Baba addressed the whole group and flew in front of them. "I have to show you something."

And all of them followed. Slowly more and more men and even women with children were showing themselves. Chichi slowly got the feeling, that something even more was awaiting them…


End file.
